Adjuvant Treatment with Low Dose of Ifnα in Patients with Melanoma

Interferon α (IFNα) is the most used adjuvant treatment in the clinical practice for melanoma (MEL) high-medium risk patients; however the use of IFNα has yielded conflicting data on Overall Survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) rates. Starting from these considerations, we conducted an analysis on our MEL patients who received adjuvant IFNα therapy, in order to identify possible predictors for their outcome. A total of 140 patients were included in our analysis. Patients with Breslow thickness ≤ 2.00 mm presented a significant longer mean DFS than patients with Breslow ≥2.01 mm (p = 0.01). Using no parametric Spearman’s Coefficient test we found association between DFS and Breslow thickness (p < 0.001) and between DFS and ulceration ( p = 0.03). Performing Multiple Regression test, Breslow thickness (p < 0.001) remained the only statistically significant predictor. From the OS analysis we found that patients with lower Breslow values ≤ 2.00 mm (p < 0.0001), and absence of ulceration (p < 0.004) showed a significant better long-terminal survival. From the current analysis we found that actually: the use of low dose IFN is justified only for cutaneous melanoma ≤ 4.01mm that was not ulcerated; patients with Breslow ≥ 4.01 mm, in our opinion, should not carry out adjuvant treatment with low dose IFNα, because its side effects could be higher than the its benefits.