Abstract
Invasive cutaneous melanoma is a growing health concern. Although surgical excision can effectively treat in situ tumors, use for metastatic melanoma is limited. Laser and light-based therapies may be a valuable palliative treatment option for patients with stage III and stage IV cutaneous metastatic melanoma. Our goal is to review the published literature and provide evidence-based recommendations on laser and light-based palliative therapies for metastatic melanoma. A search of the databases Pubmed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and CINAHL was performed on March 10, 2016. Key search terms were related to melanoma, laser, and light-based modalities. Our search initially identified 13,923 articles and 27 original articles met inclusion criteria for our review. Grade of recommendation: C for non-fractionated carbon dioxide laser, Grade of recommendation: D for fractionated carbon dioxide laser, ruby laser, neodymium laser, near-infrared diode laser, and photodynamic therapy. Non-fractionated carbon dioxide laser had the best palliative efficacy of the reviewed laser and light-based therapies, while other treatment modalities may have potential as adjunctive therapy to standard of care.
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Abbreviations
- LLBT:
-
Laser and light-based therapies
- MM:
-
Metastatic melanoma
- AEs:
-
Adverse events
- ILP:
-
Isolated limb perfusion
- US:
-
United States
- AJCC:
-
American Joint Committee on Cancer
- RCT:
-
Randomized controlled trial
- CS:
-
Case series
- CR:
-
Case report
- LOE:
-
Level of evidence
- PRISMA:
-
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses
- CO2 :
-
Carbon dioxide
- MTZ:
-
Microthermal Zone
- PDL:
-
Pulsed dye laser
- Nd:
-
Neodymium
- Nd:Yag:
-
Neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet
- nIR:
-
Near-infrared diode
- ECOG:
-
Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group
- PDT:
-
Photodynamic therapy
- ALA:
-
Aminolevulinic acid
- HPD:
-
Hematoporphyrin derivatives
- MB:
-
Methylene blue
- nm:
-
Nanometer
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Austin, E., Mamalis, A., Ho, D. et al. Laser and light-based therapy for cutaneous and soft-tissue metastases of malignant melanoma: a systematic review. Arch Dermatol Res 309, 229–242 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-017-1720-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-017-1720-9