Efficacy of Electrochemotherapy in the Treatment of Cutaneous Melanoma Metastases and Rare Non-melanoma Skin Cancer.
Lorenzo Borgognoni, Leonardo Pescitelli, Gianni Gerlini, Paola Brandani, Riccardo Gelli, Vanni Giannotti, Francesco Bellucci, Serena Sestini
Author Information
Lorenzo Borgognoni: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Melanoma and Skin Cancer Unit, Regional Melanoma Referral Center, S.M. Annunziata Hospital, Florence, Italy.
Leonardo Pescitelli: Dermatology Unit, Department of Surgery and Translational Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
Gianni Gerlini: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Melanoma and Skin Cancer Unit, Regional Melanoma Referral Center, S.M. Annunziata Hospital, Florence, Italy.
Paola Brandani: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Melanoma and Skin Cancer Unit, Regional Melanoma Referral Center, S.M. Annunziata Hospital, Florence, Italy.
Riccardo Gelli: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Melanoma and Skin Cancer Unit, Regional Melanoma Referral Center, S.M. Annunziata Hospital, Florence, Italy.
Vanni Giannotti: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Melanoma and Skin Cancer Unit, Regional Melanoma Referral Center, S.M. Annunziata Hospital, Florence, Italy.
Francesco Bellucci: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Melanoma and Skin Cancer Unit, Regional Melanoma Referral Center, S.M. Annunziata Hospital, Florence, Italy.
Serena Sestini: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Melanoma and Skin Cancer Unit, Regional Melanoma Referral Center, S.M. Annunziata Hospital, Florence, Italy serena.sestini@uslcentro.toscana.it.
BACKGROUND: We aimed to verify the clinical efficacy and safety of the electrochemotherapy in Melanoma metastases and in cases of rare non-Melanomatumors that were difficult to treat for the specific anatomical site or for patient comorbidities. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We treated 68 PATIENTS (699 cutaneous nodules), 44 PATIENTS with metastatic melanomas and 24 PATIENTS with non-Melanomatumors, at the Melanoma & Skin Cancer Unit, Florence, Italy. RESULTS: We obtained an objective response of 89.7% (88.6% in melanomas and 91.7% in non-Melanomatumors), complete response 54.4% and partial response 35.3%. CONCLUSION: This study showed that electrochemotherapy is effective in the treatment of Melanoma metastases and in rare types of non-Melanomatumors. In particular, we successfully treated rare tumors as angiosarcoma, pleomorphic sarcoma, myxofibrosarcoma, sarcoma di Kaposi, porocarcinoma, sebaceous carcinoma, Merkel cell carcinoma, malignant blue nevus, undifferentiated epitheliomorphic cell neoplasia and metastases fromthyroid carcinoma. No serious adverse events were observed.
