Systemic chemotherapy in the treatment of malignant melanoma

Abstract

Different postsurgical therapies are used for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. This article reviews the use of chemotherapeutic agents in the treatment of patients with metastatic malignant melanoma. A variety of single chemotherapy agents have been evaluated, although the most widely used chemotherapeutic in the treatment of metastatic melanoma is dacarbazine. In order to improve the rate and duration of responses, combination chemotherapy was developed. The most common combined chemotherapy regimens used as standard for the treatment of metastatic melanoma are Dartmouth regimen, CVD (cisplatin + vinblastine + dacarbazine) and BOLD (bleomycin + vincristine + lomustine + dacarbazine). However, Phase III trials have failed to demonstrate a significant benefit in survival in patients treated with polychemotherapy compared to those treated with dacarbazine alone. The use of classical systemic chemotherapy still has a role in the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma. Immunotherapy and biochemotherapy have no additional advantage over chemotherapy.