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Radiation therapy for cutaneous melanoma: 2008 update
University of Virginia Medical School, Charlottesville, VA
The incidence of melanoma is increasing, and melanoma is becoming a leading cancer cause of loss of years of potential life. Historically, melanoma has been characterized as a radiation-resistant tumor, although both conventional and hypofractionated external-beam regimens have been reported to produce complete and partial response rates of approximately 24% and 35%, respectively. Adjuvant nodal bed irradiation improves regional tumor control to 80%–90% versus 50%–70% for nodal dissection alone; however, these results have not translated into improved overall survival in retrospective studies due to high rates of progressive systemic disease in this population. Stereotactic radiation therapy (SRT) appears to have higher brain lesion control rates than does standard fractionated whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT) for metastatic brain melanoma. Given these results, stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) might prove to be an effective and convenient treatment for palliation of patients with extracranial metastatic melanoma.
| Commun Oncol 2008;5:236–240 | full text |  116 kb |