Future Outlook: Treating Advanced Melanoma

Source: Onclive, November 2018

Jeffrey S. Weber, MD, Ph.D.: This has been a very informative discussion. Before we end the discussion, I’d like to close with some thoughts from each of the panelists. Dr. Andtbacka?

Robert Andtbacka, MD, CM: From the earlier stage, from the surgical perspective, I think that melanoma surgery has changed quite a bit. We do less completion lymph node dissections now than we did previously. We have to be aware of that when we think about adjuvant therapy for our patients. We also have to be aware of that when we follow our patients. If we don’t do a completion lymph node dissection, we need to follow those patients with ultrasound. Additionally, forward-thinking, we know that those patients who we don’t do a completion lymph node dissection on will be patients that will recur. Most of the time, those recurrences are locoregional. Then, we need to think about what we treat those patients with. These adjuvant treatments will also affect what will be available to those patients. I think it’s an evolving landscape.

It is really the next step. From a surgical perspective, these patients will potentially become candidates for neoadjuvant therapies. This really will serve the melanoma community well, because it will lead us to be able to assess biomarkers with those neoadjuvant studies and help us understand how to best treat these patients that may have been on other therapies and failed those, or recurred. This can help us determine how to best treat them.