Trial status: Open

Treatment type: Chemotherapy

Stage of Disease: Advanced

Intent of Treatment: Recurrence prevention

Title: A Study of the molecular profile of melanoma chemosensitivity and resistance in patients undergoing intravenous limb infusion for metastatic melanoma.

Lay Summary: This study is designed to investigate whether certain melanomas are resistant to chemotherapy. This will be achieved by analysing melanoma tissue taken from a tumour biopsy before intravenous limb infusion (ILI) therapy. New laboratory techniques will be used to try to determine a molecular “fingerprint” of those tumours that respond best to chemotherapy.

Isolated limb infusion (ILI) with anti-cancer drugs is a form of treatment which may be offered to patients with recurrent melanoma or other types of tumour confined to a limb. For patients with recurrent melanoma confined to a limb which cannot be treated by simple surgical means, ILI is preferred to other methods of treatment because it avoids the need for amputation, and allow large doses of anti-cancer drugs to be delivered to the limb without affecting the rest of the body.  Although there are a number of predictable side-effects from the treatment, serious complications are very rare.

Contacts

Principal Investigator; Professor John Thompson

Margaret Lett - Trial Coordinator +61 2 9911 7304