Abstract | AIMS: In the metastatic stage, malignant melanoma is resistant to systemic treatment and carries a poor prognosis. A critical, evidence-based analysis of standard approaches based on an extended search of published literature and from different Internet sources is presented. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A critical, evidence-based analysis of standard approaches and their variations to systemic therapy based on an extended search of published literature and from different Internet sources is presented. Few meta-analyses are available. Therefore, assessment of therapies is mainly based on randomized multicentre studies or clinical studies achieving an evidence level grade 1 or 2. RESULTS: CONCLUSIONS: Although the therapeutic efficacy is very limited, dacarbazine cannot be rejected as standard therapy for disseminated melanoma, because no other therapeutic regimen exhibits a survival benefit over DTIC in an evidence-based analysis. This lack of therapeutic progress over the past 40 years clearly calls for further clinical studies, and patients should be enrolled into clinical trials whenever possible.
|
Authors | D Nashan, M L Müller, S Grabbe, S Wustlich, A Enk |
Journal | Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV
(J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol)
Vol. 21
Issue 10
Pg. 1305-18
(Nov 2007)
ISSN: 0926-9959 [Print] England |
PMID | 17958834
(Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)
|
Chemical References |
- Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating
- Cancer Vaccines
- Interferon-alpha
- Interleukin-2
- Dacarbazine
|
Topics |
- Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating
(therapeutic use)
- Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols
(therapeutic use)
- Cancer Vaccines
- Dacarbazine
(therapeutic use)
- Evidence-Based Medicine
- Humans
- Immunotherapy
- Interferon-alpha
(therapeutic use)
- Interleukin-2
(therapeutic use)
- Melanoma
(drug therapy, pathology)
- Neoplasm Metastasis
- Prognosis
|