New Systemic Treatment for Malignant Melanoma / 대한내과학회지

ABSTRACT

Although early stage melanoma can be cured by complete resection, the prognosis of the patients with unresectable or metastatic disease is dismal with the overall survival less than 1 year based on resistance to chemotherapeutic agents. Dacarbazine as either a single agent or in combination regimens with other cytotoxic agents has still remained as a standard in Korea for more than three decades although it has not been associated with any survival benefit for metastatic melanoma. Recently, according to advances in molecular science and immunology, the mechanisms responsible for biology of melanoma have been elucidated and then new agents targeting these mechanisms have been introduced leading survival benefit in patients with metastatic melanoma. Unfortunately, however, it is still difficult to give those new drugs to these patients in Korea because of the health insurance guidelines still defining dacarbazine as a front line regimen and moreover high cost and unavailability in the practice. Therefore, amendment of current guidelines and an in-depth discussion with the government for the earlier use of the novel drugs are strongly needed for the patients' sake.