Melanoma Treatment - Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a type of therapy in which a medication is given to treat melanoma. The goal of chemotherapy is to destroy melanoma cells throughout the body.

Chemotherapy Medical Oncology Team

Chemotherapy is prescribed and administered by a medical oncologist, a physician specially trained in oncology. The medical oncology team usually consists of physicians and specially trained nurses.

Chemotherapy Agents

• Dacarbazine (DTIC) is the only FDA-approved chemotherapy agent for the treatment of Stage IV melanoma. It is administered as an intravenous infusion.
• Temozolomide is an oral chemotherapy agent which is considered an oral form of dacarbazine. This medication is not FDA-approved for the treatment of melanoma, but is often used in that setting with similar efficacy to its stage IV counterpart.
• Other chemotherapy agents are commonly used for the treatment of metastatic melanoma, including the taxanes (i.e. docetaxel, paclitaxel) and platimum agents (i.e. cisplatin, carboplatin).

Many other chemotherapy agents are being evaluated for their use in the treatment of Stage IV melanoma as both single agents and in combination with other chemotherapy, targeted, and immunotherapy agents.

Isolated limb perfusion (ILP)

About half of all melanomas occur in the extremities, and about 10% of patients with those lesions develop a recurrence as in-transit disease. Isolated limb perfusion (ILP) was developed for locoregional delivery of chemotherapeutic agents and potential limb salvage.

Targeted Agents

Another type of chemotherapeutic agent which is being investigated through clinical trials for the treatment of melanoma are targeted agents. Targeted agents are different than traditional chemotherapy agents in that they do not cause global cell death. Instead they are able to specifically target a certain protein in the cell or on its surface that has been found to be altered in melanoma. Many of these agents are currently being investigated through clinical trials.