Chemotherapy for Melanoma

Melanoma skin cancer ---> melanoma treatment ---> melanoma chemotherapy

Melanoma is responsive to few chemotherapeutic drugs. The best single agents for treatment of melanoma are DTIC, the nitrosoureas, vinca alkaloids, and cisplatin, which have objective response rates in the range of 10% to 20%. Conventionally, objective responses have included complete disappearance of all known tumor sites (complete response) and reduction of more than half in all assessable tumor (partial response). Complete responses are rare and nearly always of brief duration (<6months).
Radiation Therapy
Melanoma can respond to radiation therapy. Radiation therapy is commonly used for palliation of bone pain secondary to metastatic disease or brain metastasis. The average survival after brain irradiation for melanoma is approximately 4 months.