Long-term outcome of treatment with dacarbazine, cisplatin, interferon-α and intravenous high dose interleukin-2 in poor risk melanoma patients

Melanoma patients with very advanced disease are usually excluded from chemoimmunotherapy trials; however, the efficacy of intensive treatment regimens needs to be established for this patient population. This study aimed to evaluate the response rate and survival achieved with chemoimmunotherapy in very advanced melanoma patients. Forty-two patients received dacarbazine (250 mg/m2, days 1-3), cisplatin (30mg/m2, days 1-3), interferon-alpha (10 Mio IU/m2 subcutaneously, days 1-5) and intravenous interleukin-2 (18 Mio IU/m2 over 6 h, 12 h then 24 h, followed by 13.5 MioIU/m2 in 72 h). In cases of brain metastases (n = 12) radiation therapy was added. Ten patients (24%) achieved a partial res…