Arterial infusion of dacarbazine and cisplatin for recurrent regionally confined melanoma

D. B. Frost, Y. Z. Patt, G. Mavligit, V. P. Chuang and S. Wallace

We treated nine patients who had metastatic malignant melanoma confined to one extremity (8/9) or the vulva (1/9) with arterial dacarbazine and cisplatin at respective doses of 800 and 90 mg/sq m. We percutaneously introduced catheters into the extremity or regional artery under fluoroscopy by the Seldinger technique, removed them at the end of the infusions, and repositioned them at four-week intervals for repeated treatment cycles. One patient achieved a complete remission, three patients had partial remissions, and five patients' disease was stable. The group median survival will exceed 19 months. Three patients with stable disease died 6, 18, and 19 months after treatment initiation, respectively. The toxic effects were primarily nausea and vomiting, pain in the infused extremity, and local erythema. Arterial dacarbazine and cisplatin offer a more effective and less toxic alternative to higher-dose single-agent arterial cisplatin for locally advanced malignant melanoma.