Topical immunotherapy with diphencyprone for cutaneous metastatic melanoma
Cutaneous recurrent/metastatic disease unsuitable for surgery or radiotherapy.
Contact person: A/Professor Diona Damian, Department of Dermatology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Phone: 02 9515 8295 Fax: 02 9565 1048
Inclusion criteria
- Extensive cutaneous melanoma metastases that are unsuitable for other conventional therapies (such as excision, radiotherapy).
- Children (patients less than 18 years of age) can be included, with parental consent
- Patients may have concurrent treatment with surgery, radiotherapy or other modalities for their melanoma as required whilst receiving DPCP. If suspension of local DPCP is required (eg, because the patient requires excision of a nodular lesion in the treated field), DPCP may resume once the surgical wound has adequately healed.
- Patients with visceral metastases are not excluded from this trial unless it is determined by their treating physicians that DPCP treatment would compromise other recommended systemic or local treatments.
Exclusion criteria
- Pregnancy (or women of childbearing potential who are not using contraception)
- Lactation
- Severe, uncontrolled eczema (since the reaction from DPCP may trigger a flare in the eczema)
- 5 to 10% of people are unable to be sensitized to DPCP (ie, they are anergic). These people will not be able to have DPCP treatment
- Previous type I reaction to DPCP (ie, hives and/or wheeze)
- This treatment is only for secondary (recurrent or metastatic) cutaneous melanoma. It is not suitable for primary melanomas.
