BACKGROUND: Any benefit of adjuvant interferon alfa-2b for melanoma could depend on dose and duration of treatment. Our aim was to determine whether pegylated interferon alfa-2b can facilitate prolonged exposure while maintaining tolerability.

METHODS: 1256 patients with resected stage III melanoma were randomly assigned to observation (n=629) or pegylated interferon alfa-2b (n=627) 6 mug/kg per week for 8 weeks (induction) then 3 mug/kg per week (maintenance) for an intended duration of ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine the changing incidence of and mortality from cutaneous malignant melanoma in Scotland from 1979 to 1994.

DESIGN: Detailed registration of clinical and pathological features, surgical and other treatment, and follow up of all cases of cutaneous malignant melanoma diagnosed from 1979 to 1994 and registered with specialist database for Scotland.

SETTING: Scotland.

SUBJECTS: 6288 patients with invasive primary cutaneous malignant melanoma diagnosed between 1 January ...

PURPOSE: Interferon (IFN) -based adjuvant therapy in melanoma is associated with significant side effects, which necessitates evaluation of health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Our trial examined the HRQOL effects of adjuvant pegylated IFN-alpha-2b (PEG-IFN-alpha-2b) versus observation in patients with stage III melanoma.

METHODS: A total of 1,256 patients with stage III melanoma were randomly assigned after full lymphadenectomy to receive either observation (n = 629) or ...

BACKGROUND: The major factors individually reported to be associated with an increased frequency of CDKN2A mutations are increased number of patients with melanoma in a family, early age at melanoma diagnosis, and family members with multiple primary melanomas (MPM) or pancreatic cancer.

METHODS: These four features were examined in 385 families with > or =3 patients with melanoma pooled by 17 GenoMEL groups, and these attributes were compared across continents.

RESULTS: Overall, 39% of ...

OBJECTIVE: To map potential sites of sex steroid action in the human vulva.

METHODS: Monoclonal antibodies to androgen, oestrogen and progesterone receptors were used to stain frozen sections of vulval skin, vagina and suprapubic skin. A scoring system was devised to compare receptor distribution in the epidermis and dermis of skin with vaginal epithelium and stroma.

RESULTS: Androgen receptors were seen in epidermal keratinocytes, sebaceous glands, sweat glands, hair follicles and ...

BACKGROUND: Melanoma risk is related to sun exposure; we have investigated risk variation by tumour site and latitude.

METHODS: We performed a pooled analysis of 15 case-control studies (5700 melanoma cases and 7216 controls), correlating patterns of sun exposure, sunburn and solar keratoses (three studies) with melanoma risk. Pooled odds ratios (pORs) and 95% Bayesian confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Bayesian unconditional polytomous logistic random-coefficients ...

Background: We report the experience of the World Health Organization (WHO) Melanoma Program concerning sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy for detecting patients with occult regional nodal metastases to submit to selective regional node dissection.Methods: From February 1994 to August 1998, in 12 centers of the WHO Melanoma Program, 892 SLN biopsies were performed in 829 patients with clinical stage I melanoma (male: 370; female: 459; median age: 50 years old). The location of the primary ...

BACKGROUND: Individuals affected by melanoma with thick primary tumours or regional node involvement have a poor outlook, with only 30-50% alive at 5 years. High-dose and low-dose interferon alfa have been assessed for the treatment of these patients, with the former having considerable toxicity and a consistent effect on disease free survival, but not on overall survival, and the latter no consistent effect on either. Our aim was, therefore, to assess the effect of two regimens of ...

BACKGROUND: The use of elective regional node dissection in patients with cutaneous melanoma without any clinical evidence of metastatic spread is still debated. Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy of immediate node dissection in patients with melanoma of the trunk and without clinical evidence of regional node and distant metastases.

METHODS: An international multicentre randomised trial was carried out by the WHO Melanoma Programme from 1982 to 1989. The trial included only patients ...

A study of 953 invasive cutaneous malignant melanomas of the head and neck was performed to determine differences between lentigo maligna melanoma and other histogenetic types with regard to patients and sites affected; prognosis was analysed in 595 of these cases. The cases studied comprised all head and neck melanomas registered with the Scottish Melanoma Group between 1979 and 1992, apart from the 3% of cases that were unclassifiable or rare histogenetic types. The histogenetic types ...

OBJECTIVE: To study incidence of and survival from cutaneous malignant melanoma in relation to socioeconomic status.

DESIGN: Application of Carstairs deprivation score to all malignant melanoma patients diagnosed in a geographically defined area over a 15 year period.

SETTING: West of Scotland (area population 2,716,900).

SUBJECTS: 3142 patients first diagnosed with malignant melanoma in the period 1979-93.

INTERVENTIONS: Surgical excision of primary malignant melanoma with additional ...

BACKGROUND: There is a current need for a reliable prognostic marker for melanoma patients, particularly those with stage 2 and stage 3 disease, so that adjuvant therapies can be directed appropriately.

OBJECTIVES: To establish whether or not the use of tyrosinase-specific or melanA/MART-1-specific reverse transcriptase-coupled-polymerase chain reaction (RT--PCR) of peripheral blood cells detects preclinical disease progression in patients with malignant melanoma.

METHODS: Two hundred ...

The efficacy and suitability of photodynamic therapy (PDT) was compared with that of cryotherapy in the treatment of 40 lesions of Bowen's disease. Lesions were randomized to receive either cryotherapy with liquid nitrogen, or PDT using a portable desktop lamp incorporating a 300 W xenon short arc discharge source. A porphyrin precursor, 5-aminolaevulinic acid (5-ALA), was applied topically 4 h before irradiation in the PDT group. Each lesion received 125 J/cm2 at a fluence rate of 70 ...

The incidence of cutaneous melanoma is rising rapidly in a number of countries. The key environmental risk factor is exposure to the ultraviolet (UV) component in sunlight. The nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway deals with the main forms of UV-induced DNA damage. We have investigated the hypothesis that polymorphisms in NER genes constitute genetic susceptibility factors for melanoma. However, not all melanomas arise on sun-exposed sites and so we investigated the hypothesis that ...