Phase II Multicenter Study of Neoadjuvant Biochemotherapy for Patients With Stage III Malignant Melanoma

Purpose To determine the relapse-free survival, overall survival, and response rate of patients with stage III melanoma treated with neoadjuvant biochemotherapy in a multicenter setting. Patients and Methods Patients with pathologically proven stage III melanoma, either via clinical detection or sentinel lymph node positivity, were eligible for enrollment. Patients received two cycles of preoperative biochemotherapy followed by complete regional lymphadenectomy and two postoperative courses of biochemotherapy. The biochemotherapy regimen consisted of the following: cisplatin 20 mg/m2 on days 1 to 4, dacarbazine 800 mg/m2 on day 1 only, vinblastine 1.6 mg/m2 on days 1 to 4, interleukin-2 total dose of 36 MU/m2 during 4 days, and interferon alfa 5 MU/m2 on days 1 to 5. Growth factor support was administered with each cycle. Results Ninety-two patients were eligible for the study. At a median follow-up of 40.4 months, relapse-free survival and overall survival are 64% and 78%, respectively. There was a lower...