The adjuvant treatment revolution for high-risk melanoma patients

Semin Cancer Biol. 2019 Dec:59:283-289. doi: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2019.08.024. Epub 2019 Aug 21.

Abstract

The past 5 years have witnessed the results of many practice-changing studies that have dramatically improved the landscape of adjuvant therapy in patients with resected, high-risk melanoma. After a 20-year era of adjuvant interferon, the anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1 immune-checkpoint inhibitors, and MAPK-directed targeted therapy brought a revolution into the adjuvant treatment of melanoma. These results came along with the practice-changing results of two large multicenter studies showing no benefit in terms of overall survival for completion lymph node dissection after positive sentinel node biopsy. In this review, we summarized the current state of the art of the adjuvant treatment of high-risk melanoma, with a view on future perspectives.

Keywords: Adjuvant; Immunotherapy; Melanoma; Neoadjuvant; Targeted therapy.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Clinical Trials as Topic
  • Combined Modality Therapy
  • Disease Management
  • Humans
  • Lymph Node Excision
  • Melanoma / mortality
  • Melanoma / pathology*
  • Melanoma / therapy*
  • Neoadjuvant Therapy* / methods
  • Neoadjuvant Therapy* / trends
  • Neoplasm Grading
  • Neoplasm Metastasis
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Practice Guidelines as Topic
  • Treatment Outcome