Melanoma Treatment (PDQ®)—Health Professional Version - National Cancer Institute

Melanoma Treatment (PDQ®)—Health Professional Version - National Cancer Institute

Melanoma Treatment (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version

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SKIN CANCER

• Patient
• Health Professional
  • Skin Cancer Treatment
  • Melanoma Treatment
  • Merkel Cell Carcinoma Treatment
  • Skin Cancer Prevention
  • Genetics of Skin Cancer
  • Skin Cancer Screening
• Research

SECTIONS

• General Information About Melanoma
• Cellular and Molecular Classification of Melanoma
• Stage Information for Melanoma
• Treatment Option Overview for Melanoma
• Stage 0 Melanoma Treatment
• Stage I Melanoma Treatment
• Stage II Melanoma Treatment
• Resectable Stage III Melanoma Treatment
• Unresectable Stage III, Stage IV, and Recurrent Melanoma Treatment
• Changes to This Summary (07/​19/​2018)
• About This PDQ Summary
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Changes to This Summary (07/19/2018)

The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.

Resectable Stage III Melanoma Treatment

Revised text to state that adjuvant therapeutic options for patients at high risk of recurrence after complete resection are expanding, building on advances seen both with immunotherapy and targeted therapies in the metastatic setting. Further revised text to state that prospective, randomized, multicenter treatment trials have demonstrated a clinically significant impact on relapse-free survival (RFS) with checkpoint inhibitors (ipilimumab, nivolumab and pembrolizumab) and combination signal transduction inhibitor therapy (dabrafenib plus trametinib).

Added text about ipilimumab.

Added text to state that although some trials of interferon alpha-2b have demonstrated an effect on RFS, both adjuvant high-dose and pegylated interferon have been shown to not improve OS in randomized trials.

Added text to state that participation in clinical trials to identify treatments that will further extend RFS and OS with less toxicity is an important option for all patients.

Added Pembrolizumab as a new subsection.

Unresectable Stage III, Stage IV, and Recurrent Melanoma Treatment

Revised text to state that secondary resistance to BRAF inhibitor monotherapy, in patients with BRAF V600 mutations, may be associated with reactivation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway.

This summary is written and maintained by the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board, which is editorially independent of NCI. The summary reflects an independent review of the literature and does not represent a policy statement of NCI or NIH. More information about summary policies and the role of the PDQ Editorial Boards in maintaining the PDQ summaries can be found on the About This PDQ Summary and PDQ® - NCI's Comprehensive Cancer Database pages.

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About This PDQ Summary

• Updated: July 19, 2018