Prospective comparison of intralesional and multipuncture BCG in recurrent intradermal melanoma

✍ Scribed by L. Nathanson; D. Schoenfeld; W. Regelson; J. Colsky; A. Mittelman

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1979
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 458 KB
• Volume: 43
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(197905)43:5<1630::aid-cncr2820430511>3.0.co;2-z

✦ Synopsis

Fifty-nine patients with metastatic melanoma predominantly localized in the skin were randomly assigned to treatment with BCG given either intralesionally (IL-BCG) or by multiple puncture vaccination at a nontumor bearing site in the skin (MPV-BCG). Half the patients with IL-BCG experienced moderate fever, chills and malaise, suggesting systemic exposure to this live or- ganism. However, only three of these patients required systemic antituberculous chemotherapy and all responded to it. MPV-BCG treated patients experienced significantly less systemic toxicity. Among fully evaluable patients 45% objective response rate was seen in the IL-BCG group and a 9% response rate in the MPV-BCG group, a significant difference. The only complete re- sponses were seen in the IL-BCG group. Among fully evaluable patients, median survival was 21.1 months in the IL-BCG group and 13.3 months in the MPV-BCG groups (NSD). No patients with pretreatment anergy to all skin tests utilized, experienced objective response to BCG.