Skin Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Skin Cancer, including details on identification, causes, prevention, treatment.

Temozolomide plus thalidomide in patients with brain metastases from melanoma: a phase II study.

Hwu WJ, Lis E, Menell JH, Panageas KS, Lamb LA, Merrell J, Williams LJ, Krown SE, Chapman PB, Livingston PO, Wolchok JD, Houghton AN

Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA. wenjhwu@mdanderson.org

BACKGROUND: Temozolomide plus thalidomide is a promising oral combination regimen for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. The current Phase II study examined the efficacy and safety of this combination in chemotherapy-naive patients with brain metastases. METHODS: Patients with histologically confirmed metastatic melanoma and measurable brain metastases received temozolomide (75 mg/m2 per day for 6 weeks with a 2-week break between cycles) plus concomitant thalidomide (200 mg/day escalating to 400 mg/day for patients < 70 years or 100 mg/day escalating to 250 mg/day for patients > or = 70 years). The primary end point was tumor response in the brain assessed every 8 weeks. RESULTS: Twenty-six patients with a median age of 60 years were treated. All patients had progressive brain metastases: 16 were symptomatic and 25 had extensive extracranial metastases. Eight patients had received whole-brain radiotherapy, 4 had received stereotactic radiotherapy, and 8 had received craniotomy with resection of hemorrhagic lesions. Fifteen patients completed > or = 1 cycle (median, 1 cycle; range, 0-4 cycles), and 11 discontinued treatment before completing 1 cycle (7 for intracranial hemorrhage, 2 for pulmonary embolism, 1 for deep vein thrombosis, and 1 for Grade 3 rash). Of 15 patients assessable for response, 3 had a complete or partial response (12% intent to treat) and 7 had minor response or stable disease in the brain. However, 5 of these 10 patients had disease progression at extracranial sites. The median survival period was 5 months for all 26 patients and 6 months for the 15 assessable patients. CONCLUSIONS: Temozolomide plus thalidomide was an active oral regimen for patients with brain metastases from malignant melanoma.

Published 8 June 2005 in Cancer, 103(12): 2590-7.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Skin Cancer Research Today. All Rights Reserved.