June 2nd 2024
Phase 3 findings show the benefit of immunotherapy before surgery in those with macroscopic stage III node-positive melanoma.
Community Practice Connections™: 5th Annual Precision Medicine Symposium – An Illustrated Tumor Board
View More
Medical Crossfire®: Where Are We in the World of ADCs? From HER2 to CEACAM5, TROP2, HER3, CDH6, B7H3, c-MET and Beyond!
View More
Community Oncology Connections™: Overcoming Barriers to Testing, Trial Access, and Equitable Care in Cancer
View More
Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocyte Therapy Advances Into Melanoma
View More
Sentinel-Node Biopsy Reduced Recurrence, Increased Melanoma-Specific Survival
February 20th 2014Sentinel-node biopsy for patients with intermediate-thickness melanomas increased disease-free survival and, in patients positive for nodal metastases, disease-specific survival, according to the final data from the MSLT-I study.
Targeted Intervention Decreased Melanoma Risk, Increased Early Prevention
February 7th 2014A new study found that a targeted screening and education strategy aimed at patients at high-risk for melanoma favorably affected behaviors that may reduce melanoma risk compared with a standard information-based campaign.
Immune Cells in Sentinel Nodes May Predict Melanoma Progression
January 21st 2014In a new study, melanoma patients who had CD30-positive T cells present in their sentinel lymph nodes were more likely to have disease progression compared with patients whose node biopsies were negative for these immune cells.
Further Study of Short-Term, High-Dose Interferon Alfa-2b Not Warranted in Melanoma
January 17th 2014Results of a phase II study indicate that the use of 1 month of intravenous high-dose interferon alfa-2b alone for the treatment of melanoma was not superior to the standard long-term regimen, and that further study of this approach is not warranted.
Targeted Therapy Combo Boosts Survival for Advanced Melanoma Patients
November 20th 2013Metastatic melanoma patients treated with a dabrafenib/trametinib combination experienced a 3.6-month increase in overall survival compared with patients treated with dabrafenib alone. The results were not statistically significant, partly due to the crossover design of the trial.
Criteria Identified to Select Melanoma Patients for Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy
November 11th 2013In patients with thin melanomas who are clinically node-negative, sentinel lymph node biopsy should be offered to patients with melanomas greater than 0.75 mm in Breslow thickness, according to the results of a recent study.
Balancing Benefits and Risks of Melanoma Treatment: What Do We Tell Our Patients?
October 15th 2013All of us treating patients with melanoma must educate our patients about the importance of participating in clinical trials with these new agents so that we can systematically validate the benefits and risks of these agents in prospectively defined patient settings.
A 55-year-old woman with a history of metastatic melanoma in remission for 8 years presented to the emergency department with gross hematuria. A CT scan, ordered because the patient was in menopause, demonstrated a bladder tumor.
Variations in Melanoma Treatment May Affect Outcomes in Elderly
September 13th 2013Older patients with melanoma were diagnosed with thicker melanomas, and experienced longer time to excision and a higher frequency of insufficient excision margins compared with their younger counterparts in a multicenter study in France.
Combined Immunotherapies Show Promise in Metastatic Melanoma
July 17th 2013The results of two studies indicate that combining antibodies against the programmed death 1 (PD-1) receptor with an antibody against cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) improved treatment outcomes for patients with advanced melanoma, without a significant increase in adverse events.
Weighing the Evidence for Immune Therapy and Targeted Therapy in Renal Cancer and Melanoma
July 15th 2013Ultimately, as agents in both VEGF-targeted and immunotherapy classes with lower toxicity rates are developed, questions of combination and sequence will inspire clinical investigations of strategies that, it is hoped, will maximize both the quantity and quality of life for patients with RCC. Melanoma therapy drug development continues to lead the way with regard to what is therapeutically possible with immunotherapy-and suggests that HD IL-2 continues to be relevant in today’s treatment landscape.
High-Dose Interleukin-2: Is It Still Indicated for Melanoma and RCC in an Era of Targeted Therapies?
July 15th 2013In this review, we examine the currently approved options available for these disease processes, including the newer agents and selected combinatorial approaches under investigation, and we attempt to identify the role of high-dose IL-2 in the context of current clinical practice.