At the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) 17th Annual Conference: Clinical Practice Guidelines & Quality Cancer Care, representatives announced some important additions to the NCCN guidelines for the treatment of melanoma.
Specifically, in cases of advanced melanoma, two agents have been added: ipilimumab and vemurafenib.
“We are really looking at the addition of two very exciting new agents in the treatment of systemic disease, one using immunotherapy (ipilimumab), the other using targeted therapy against a specific gene mutation (vemurafenib),” said Daniel G. Coit, MD, co-leader of the Melanoma Disease Management Team at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. “In addition, we are stressing the importance of screening patients with metastatic disease for the presence of the BRAF gene mutation to see if it can be a weapon in the treatment armamentarium.” About half of patients with metastatic melanoma harbor an activating mutation of BRAF, a signaling kinase. These patients tend to show dramatic responses to vemurafenib.
Further updates to the melanoma guidelines include expanded recommendations for adjuvant therapy, radiotherapy, and a softened emphasis on screening tests for early-stage (I-II) melanoma.
Said Dr. Coit, “We are working hard to define subgroups of patients at very low risk for distant disease or regional nodal disease who should not undergo extensive staging procedures."
Source: MarketWatch
The information provided on CancerTreatment.net is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. This information is solely for informational purposes and does not constitute the practice of medicine. We encourage all visitors to see a licensed physician or nutritionist if they have any concerns regarding health issues related to diet, personal image and any other topics discussed on this site. Neither the owners or employees of CancerTreatment.net nor the author(s) of site content take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, action or application of medication which results from reading this site. Always speak with your primary health care provider before engaging in any form of self treatment. Please see our Legal Statement for further information.
