COMBINATION CHEMOTHERAPY FOR DISSEMINATED MALIGNANT-MELANOMA

Malignant melanoma, once disseminated, is associated with very short s urvival times and has proven highly resistant to systemic therapy. Alt hough many chemotherapeutic agents can produce small response rates in these patients, the most consistent responses occur with dacarbazine (DTIC). Numerous combination regimens, with and without DTIC, have bee n tested against disseminated melanoma, with varying and inconsistent outcomes. The most encouraging results have occurred with the combinat ion of DTIC, cisplatin, BCNU and tamoxifen. The use of high-dose chemo therapy with and without autologous bone marrow support and the additi on of biologic agents such as inteferon-alpha and interleukin-2 to con ventional chemotherapy have also been actively investigated. This pape r reviews the various approaches taken against disseminated melanoma e mploying systemic chemotherapy.