High-Dose Platinum Combination Therapy in Pretreated Patients with Disseminated Melanoma

Background: There are no accepted second-line therapeutic options in patients with disseminated melanoma. We evaluated toxicity and efficacy of a combination therapy with cisplatin and carboplatin. Methods: Fifty consecutively treated melanoma patients who were progressive after at least one previous chemotherapy received cisplatin 100 mg/m 2 intravenously and carboplatin 200 mg/m 2 intravenously in a 2-day regimen once every 28 days. Results: As grade 3 and 4 toxicities, leucopenia (14%), thrombopenia (10%), anaemia (22%), nausea (8%), nephrotoxicity (4%), hypomagnesaemia (80%) and hepatotoxicity (2%) were observed. Among 42 patients evaluable for response, 2 (4.7%) had complete remission, 4 (9.5%) had partial remission and 21 (50%) had stable disease. The median progression-free time was 17 weeks (range 0–156) for all patients and 39 weeks (range 17–156) for patients with objective responses. The median overall survival time for all patients from the start of therapy was 32 weeks (range 2–156). Melanoma inhibitory activity levels of