Treatment of metastatic melanoma by 24-hour DTIC infusions and hemibody irradiation.
Forty-three patients with widely metastatic melanoma were studied. Visceral metastases were present in 79% of the patient group, including five patients with brain metastases. No patients were excluded because of "early death," etc., from analysis. All 43 patients received 24-hour DTIC infusions. Dosages for individual patients ranged from 350 mg/M2 to 2.5 g/M2, a maximum of 6 courses being given. A total of 155 courses was administered. Hemibody irradiation (HBI) was delivered after 1 or 3 courses of DTIC to the area of maximum disease in 23 patients. Fourteen of the 43 patients responded to DTIC chemotherapy (with one complete response), a response rate of 33%. Seven of the chemotherapy responders also responded in other sites to subsequent HBI, a response rate of 30% (7/23). No patient responded to HBI and not to DTIC. Median survival was 4 months (range, 1-15), and nine patients are still alive at 3 to 15 months. Toxicity was generally mild, although there was one possible treatment-related death. Further exploration of DTIC infusion chemotherapy and HBI would be of interest.
Thatcher
N
N
Anderson
H
H
James
R
R
Davenport
P
P
Craig
P
P
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003606:Dacarbazine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000633:toxicity; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D013997:Time Factors
D003606:Dacarbazine