Medical management of malignant melanoma

The treatment and outcomes for people with metastatic melanoma have changed considerably in the past few years with the introduction of targeted anticancer drugs. About half of the patients with metastatic melanoma will have activating mutations in the BRAF gene. These people may benefit from a BRAF inhibitor (vemurafenib or dabrafenib) or a MEK inhibitor (trametinib). Addition of a MEK inhibitor to a BRAF inhibitor improves progression-free survival and alters the adverse effect profile. Ipilimumab is another drug indicated for metastatic melanoma. It works by altering the patient's own immune response to the tumour. Toxicities are common with these drugs and include arthralgias, fatigue, photosensitivity, squamous cell carcinomas, fever, diarrhoea, pruritus and immune-related adverse effects.