Fava Paolo, Astrua Chiara, Sanlorenzo Martina, Ribero Simone, Brizio Matteo, Filippi Andrea R, Marra Elena, Picciotto Franco, Sangiolo Dario, Carnevale-Schianca Fabrizio, Aglietta Massimo, Sandrucci Sergio, Ricardi Umberto, Caliendo Virginia, Quaglino Pietro, Fierro Maria T
Clinic of Dermatology, Department of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Department of Dermatology, Mt. Zion Cancer Research Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
G Ital Dermatol Venereol. 2017 Jun;152(3):241-261. doi: 10.23736/S0392-0488.17.05633-4. Epub 2017 Mar 14.
The prognosis of stage IV metastatic melanoma is poor. An overall 1-year survival of 25.5% and a median survival of 6.2 months were reported without any significant improvement during the last 30 years before the introduction of new drugs (immune checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapies) which completely modified the therapeutic approach and induced an overwhelming improvement on the survival rates of these patients. This review will analyze the therapeutic tools available for the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma, including adjuvant interferon and locoregional therapies (surgery, radiotherapy and electrochemotherapy) and will mainly focus on the presentation of results obtained by the new treatments (checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapies).