Metastasectomy Improves Survival In Selected Patients With Melanoma
Source: Clinical Oncology, June 2018
In a highly selected group of patients with advanced melanoma treated with checkpoint blockade immunotherapy, surgical resection of metastases is associated with good outcomes, according to a new study. The study is the first to characterize the outcomes of patients with metastatic melanoma selected for surgery after immunotherapy.
“In the era of improved systemic therapy, checkpoint blockade for metastatic melanoma and the ability to surgically resect all disease after treatment is associated with an estimated five-year survival of 75%, better than what has been previously reported,” said lead author Danielle Bello, MD, a surgical oncology fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), in New York City. “Surgical resection based on response to checkpoint blockade stratifies groups with the best survival. We have seen five-year overall survival of 90% in patients with responding lesions and a 60% five-year overall survival in those with isolated sites of progression.”