Adjuvant high‐dose interferon for cutaneous melanoma is most beneficial for patients with early stage III disease

Evidence from randomized trials in the pre‐sentinel lymph node biopsy era indicate that adjuvant treatment with high‐dose interferon‐α (IFN) increases recurrence‐free survival (RFS) in patients with high‐risk melanoma. However, to the authors' knowledge, the role of this treatment in selected patients with early stage III disease has not been well studied.

[1]  J. Kirkwood,et al.  Interferon alfa-2b adjuvant therapy of high-risk resected cutaneous melanoma: the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Trial EST 1684. , 1996, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[2]  Jeffrey E. Lee,et al.  Cost effectiveness of adjuvant interferon in node-positive melanoma. , 2007, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[3]  D. McCready,et al.  Systematic review of systemic adjuvant therapy for patients at high risk for recurrent melanoma , 2006, Cancer.

[4]  Xianglin L. Du,et al.  Population-based assessment of surgical treatment trends for patients with melanoma in the era of sentinel lymph node biopsy. , 2005, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[5]  R. Elashoff,et al.  Interim results of the Multicenter Selective Lymphadenectomy Trial (MSLT-I) in clinical stage I melanoma , 2005 .

[6]  Natale Cascinelli,et al.  An Evidence‐based Staging System for Cutaneous Melanoma 1 , 2004, CA: a cancer journal for clinicians.

[7]  J. Manola,et al.  A Pooled Analysis of Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group and Intergroup Trials of Adjuvant High-Dose Interferon for Melanoma , 2004, Clinical Cancer Research.

[8]  R. Elashoff,et al.  Lymphatic Mapping and Sentinel Lymphadenectomy for Early-Stage Melanoma: Therapeutic Utility and Implications of Nodal Microanatomy and Molecular Staging for Improving the Accuracy of Detection of Nodal Micrometastases , 2003, Annals of surgery.

[9]  M. Gore,et al.  Does adjuvant interferon-alpha for high-risk melanoma provide a worthwhile benefit? A meta-analysis of the randomised trials. , 2003, Cancer treatment reviews.

[10]  S. Swetter,et al.  Current management of melanoma: Benefits of surgical staging and adjuvant therapy , 2003, Journal of surgical oncology.

[11]  M. Lens,et al.  Interferon alfa therapy for malignant melanoma: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. , 2002, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[12]  J. Kirkwood,et al.  Quality-of-Life–Adjusted Survival Analysis of High-Dose Adjuvant Interferon Alfa-2b for High-Risk Melanoma Patients Using Intergroup Clinical Trial Data , 2002 .

[13]  N Cascinelli,et al.  Prognostic factors analysis of 17,600 melanoma patients: validation of the American Joint Committee on Cancer melanoma staging system. , 2001, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[14]  Martin F. Mihm,et al.  Final version of the American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system for cutaneous melanoma. , 2001, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[15]  M. Ross,et al.  Sentinel lymph node biopsy for melanoma: controversy despite widespread agreement. , 2001, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[16]  V. Sondak,et al.  High-dose interferon alfa-2b significantly prolongs relapse-free and overall survival compared with the GM2-KLH/QS-21 vaccine in patients with resected stage IIB-III melanoma: results of intergroup trial E1694/S9512/C509801. , 2001, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[17]  M. Atkins,et al.  Patient preferences for adjuvant interferon alfa-2b treatment. , 2001, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[18]  V. Sondak,et al.  High- and low-dose interferon alfa-2b in high-risk melanoma: first analysis of intergroup trial E1690/S9111/C9190. , 2000, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[19]  M. Ross,et al.  Multi-institutional melanoma lymphatic mapping experience: the prognostic value of sentinel lymph node status in 612 stage I or II melanoma patients. , 1999, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[20]  M. Ross,et al.  Critical analysis of the current American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system for cutaneous melanoma and proposal of a new staging system. , 1997, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[21]  J. Kugler,et al.  Randomized, surgical adjuvant clinical trial of recombinant interferon alfa-2a in selected patients with malignant melanoma. , 1995, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[22]  D L Morton,et al.  Technical details of intraoperative lymphatic mapping for early stage melanoma. , 1992, Archives of surgery.

[23]  A. Jemal,et al.  Cancer Statistics, 2007 , 2007, CA: a cancer journal for clinicians.

[24]  A. Eggermont The role interferon-alpha in malignant melanoma remains to be defined. , 2001, European journal of cancer.

[25]  N. Dubrawsky Cancer statistics , 1989, CA: a cancer journal for clinicians.

[26]  B K Armstrong,et al.  Melanoma of the skin. , 1984, British medical bulletin.