Garutti Examines Advantages of Neoadjuvant Approaches in Melanoma

Source: OncLive, August 2020

The use of adjuvant therapies in melanoma could offer superior efficacy compared to what is currently provided by adjuvant therapies alone, with some preclinical data pointing to increased clinical benefit within this patient population, according to Mattia Garutti, MD.

“Especially in [patients with] stage III melanoma, the risk of relapse is really high,” said Garutti. “We need different strategies to increase cure rates for our patients. Neoadjuvant therapies in melanoma represent an exciting area of research. In other [diseases], such as breast cancer, the shift from the adjuvant to neoadjuvant therapy [has become] a gold standard. In melanoma, this shift is expected in the near future.”

Despite the advances that have been made with adjuvant therapies in recent years, patients with stage III melanoma still are at significant risk for relapse, Garutti and colleagues, wrote in a recent literature review.

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