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Adjuvant chemotherapy in high‐risk malignant melanoma
Author(s) -
Karakousis Constantine P.,
Emrich Lawrence J.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
journal of surgical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.201
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1096-9098
pISSN - 0022-4790
DOI - 10.1002/jso.2930360115
Subject(s) - medicine , melanoma , adjuvant , chemotherapy , oncology , adjuvant chemotherapy , cancer , cancer research , breast cancer
Abstract Fifty‐nine patients with regional or hematogenous recurrence of malignant melanoma following resection of all the gross tumor were randomized to observation or chemotherapy. The chemotherapy consisted of BCNU 80 mg/M 2 I.V. every 4 weeks, actinomycin‐D 0.01 mg/kg and vincristine 1.0 mg/M 2 I.V. every 2 weeks, for a total of 6 months. The chemotherapy protocol was tolerated well without appreciable objective side effects. At a median follow‐up period of 11.5 months, the disease‐free survival time for the chemotherapy treated group is significantly longer than for the control group (P = 0.01). The estimated median disease‐free survival time is 4 months in the surgical control group and 9 months in the chemotherapy group. At present, the proportion of patients remaining disease‐free is 43% for the surgical control and 55% for the chemotherapy treated group. More patients and follow‐up are needed, but this preliminary report suggests that nitrosourea‐based protocols need to be evaluated further as adjuvant treatment of malignant melanoma.