Seventy-three patients with disseminated melanoma were given chemotherapy a t the University of California Hospitals, San Francisco. The chemotherapeutic regimens employed in their approximate chronological order over the 9-year period were as follows: 1. pyrimidine nucleosides 5-iodo-Z'-deoxyridine (IUDR), 5-Auoro-2~-deoxyuridine (FUDR), or a combination of both: 2. alkylating agents, nitrogen mustard, cyclophosphamide, phenylalanine mustard, or chlorambucil; 3. trimethylcolchicinic acid methyl ether d-tartrate (TMCA); 4. a combination of vincristine and cyclophosphamide; 5. a combination of 1, 3 bis (2-chloroethy1)-l-nitrosourea (BCNU) and vincristine, and 6. a "miscellaneous" group which included hydroxyurea, cytosine arabinoside, a n d vinblastine. Objective remissions (50% reduction in tumor size) were observed in 6 patients (20%) treated with T M C A a n d in 1 patient (4%) treated with phenylalanine mustard. Partial responses were observed in 5 patients (17%) treated with T M C A and in 14 patients (19%) treated with other agents. Toxic effects from T M C A (pancytopenia, stomatitis, nausea and vomiting) were rapidly reversed by stopping the drug. In this series, TRICA proved to be a drug which was easily administered, on an outpatient basis, a n d produced significant remission rates. I t is suggested that T M C A receive more extensive drug triaIs.
I.THOUGH MELANOMA OF THE SKIN IS ONE OF
A the most accessible of all nialignant tumors, the ideal therapy for patients with malignant melanoma continues to be an enigma.
T h e various chemotherapeutic agents and modes of treatment that have b'een tried in advanced meIanoma1~~,9,10~1~~13 are prima facie evidence of our failure to find any single agent or combinatio'n of agents that will give a pre-Presented, in part, at the Tcntli International Cancer Congress, Houston, Tex. (under the auspices of the International IJnion Against Cancer). May 22-29, 1970.