Safety and efficacy of electrochemotherapy in a series of patients with nonmetastasized primary or recurrent anorectal malignant melanoma

Abstract

Anorectal malignant melanoma (AMM) is a rare malignant tumor. Surgery remains the gold standard but new adjuvant treatments to allow local sphincter-saving are warranted. Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is an alternative to surgery in selected cohorts of patients. To evaluate safety and efficacy of ECT in a retrospective series of patients with primary or recurrent AMM in terms of local disease control, local progression free and overall survival. Seven primary and one recurrent AMM underwent ECT. Patients were followed at 1 and 2 months and at the longest available follow-up with clinical examination and/or ultrasound. One month after ECT 6/8 (75%) patients showed complete response, 1/8 partial response (12.5%) and 1/8 stable disease (12.5%), confirmed at 2 months. Bleeding stopped in all patients, and pain was absent or mild/moderate in all patients. No serious adverse events were observed. At 1 year of follow-up seven out of eight patients were alive (87.5%), four were disease-free and three were alive with disease. At the longest available follow-up (mean 4.9 ± 2.0 years) five out of eight (62.5%) of patients were still alive. Our study showed that ECT is well tolerated and effective in the treatment of patients with anal melanoma with good local control of disease.

Efficacy of Electrochemotherapy in Breast Cancer Patients of Different Receptor Status: The INSPECT Experience

“…ECT has been repeatedly demonstrated to be a safe procedure [ 6 , 21 , 22 , 23 ] and, in this series, we confirm this finding. All toxicities were mild, and all recovered within 2 months from the procedures.…”

“…All toxicities were mild, and all recovered within 2 months from the procedures. ECT could be performed not only as a palliative procedure but also as an alternative treatment to surgery in the case of patients not eligible for surgery [ 6 ] or to other standard treatments, even in the case of primary tumors, where surgery could be very mutilating, as new studies are investigating [ 21 ].…”

Pulsed Electric Fields in Oncology: A Snapshot of Current Clinical Practices and Research Directions from the 4th World Congress of Electroporation

“…Finally, ECT is applied with function-sparing intent in patients with melanoma of the perianal region and mucosal melanoma of the anal canal. This indication is a niche setting, and the clinical experience is limited to a few centres; nonetheless, preliminary results indicate the procedure’s feasibility, safety, and efficacy to ensure durable local control while preserving organ function [ 155 , 156 , 157 ].…”