Treatments for metastatic melanoma: Synthesis of evidence from randomized trials

Background: Advanced melanomas (non-resectable Stage-III/IV) are fatal, with few effective treatments. It remains unclear if other drugs offer improvements over the standard, dacarbazine. Purpose: We quantified objective response rates (Complete + Partial response) of dacarbazine versus comparators for advanced cutaneous melanoma. Methods: We retrieved at[ head-to-head randomized controlled trials involving dacarbazine and other drugs/combinations. Two reviewers searched MEDLINE (1966-Jan 2006), EMBASE (1980-2006), CINAHL (1982-2006) and Cochrane library, then compared results. Differences were resolved through consensus. Rates were combined using random effects meta-analysis. X-2 tested heterogeneity; points from Jadad's method were assessed to examine study quality. Results: We found 48 studies having 111 active treatment arms [24 with dacarbazine monotherapy (n = 1390), 75 with dacarbazine combinations (n = 4962), and 12 with non-dacarbazine treatments (n = 783)] treating 7135 patients. Overall, study quality was poor. Response to dacarbazine monotherapy ranged between 5.3% and 28.0% (average 15.3%), OR = 1.31, Cl-95%: 1.06-1.61; N = 3356. Partial responses comprised 73% of successes. Only adding interferons improved response rates (OR = 1.69, Cl-95%: 1.07-2.68, N = 778) but survival duration was not significantly longer (P = 0.32), and trials with larger sample sizes found lower success rates. All other treatments alone or in combination were ineffective P > 0.05. Conclusions: Dacarbazine generally produces poor outcomes. Adding other therapies offers minimal clinical advantages (possibly with interferons). In general, study quality was poor and sample sizes were small. This meta-analysis highlights the unmet need for effective treatment options for advanced melanoma. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.