The combination of paclitaxel and carboplatin appears to be effective for metastatic melanoma when traditional treatments have failed, according to an article in the January issue of Cancer.

“Melanoma is unfortunately one of the few cancers that has become more common over the last few decades, and when it becomes metastatic, there are very few treatment options,” said Ravi Rao, MBBS, Mayo Clinic oncologist and lead investigator of the study. “This is a good step towards better treating this cancer. We hope to continue to find treatment options that extend and improve life expectancy for patients.”

The current study appears to have found one such option, with nearly half the patients who received the combination chemotherapy experiencing stable disease (19 percent) or tumor reduction (26 percent).

In this retrospective study, Rao and colleagues examined the records of 31 patients treated at the Mayo Clinic with combination chemotherapy between March 2003 and January 2005. The patients had previously failed an average of two treatments, including vaccine/immunotherapy. Interestingly, the researchers found that the tested combination benefited even patients in whom temozolomide failed.

Because the data was collected from the records of patients treated previously and was not part of a set treatment regimen, the schedule and dosage of drugs varied. However, the researchers believe that using the drugs weekly (compared to once every three weeks) makes the combination more tolerable, and the researchers prefer that option.

“Other recent studies in the US and Germany looking at combinations that included carboplatin indicated that there is some clinical benefit from this combination,” noted Rao. “Combined with our results, we believe that the carboplatin combination truly has a beneficial role, especially for patients who have had poor results from other treatment options.

“However, this study is retrospective in nature, and further studies are needed to fully understand the impact of this combination on the survival of patients with metastatic melanoma,” Rao said. He noted that several additional trials using this drug combination are being planned, including some at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center.