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Palliative radiotherapy for Japanese patients with malignant melanoma: a single-institution experience

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to clarify the significance of palliative radiotherapy for Japanese patients with malignant melanoma based on the experience of our institution.

Materials and methods

Twenty-nine patients with malignant melanoma who underwent palliative radiotherapy at our facility were included in the investigation. Median radiation dose was 30 Gy (4–30).

Results

Median follow-up time was 4.2 months (range 2.7–40.5 months). Twenty-two patient (75.9 %) died during the follow-up. The response rate of overall symptoms to radiotherapy was 63.0 %. The rate of completely resolved hemorrhage was relatively high (81.8 %). The median time of freedom from progression in completely resolved symptoms was 3.1 months (range 0.2–27.8 months). Radiation dose <30 Gy and poor performance status tended to be associated with poor symptomatic relief in treatment site (p = .080 and p = .068, respectively). There were very few severe toxic events.

Conclusion

Two thirds of symptoms were safely alleviated by palliative radiotherapy for Japanese patients with malignant melanoma. The therapeutic effect was retained for a substantial duration. Further domestic studies are warranted.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Mrs. I. Koiwai and Mrs. Y. Ogawa for their support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Shinshu University, School of Medicine, 3-1-1 Asahi, Matsumoto, 390-8621, Japan

    Keiichiro Koiwai, Shigeru Sasaki, Eriko Yoshizawa, Hironobu Ina, Ayumu Fukazawa, Katsuya Sakai, Takesumi Ozawa, Hirohide Matsushita & Masumi Kadoya

Authors
  1. Keiichiro Koiwai
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  2. Shigeru Sasaki
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  3. Eriko Yoshizawa
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  4. Hironobu Ina
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  5. Ayumu Fukazawa
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  6. Katsuya Sakai
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  7. Takesumi Ozawa
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  8. Hirohide Matsushita
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  9. Masumi Kadoya
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Keiichiro Koiwai.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical statement

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of our institutional research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

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Koiwai, K., Sasaki, S., Yoshizawa, E. et al. Palliative radiotherapy for Japanese patients with malignant melanoma: a single-institution experience. Jpn J Radiol 34, 125–129 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-015-0484-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-015-0484-4

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