Dr Akhil Kapoor talks to ecancer about his case report "Exceptional response to oral metronomic chemotherapy in a rare case of
sinonasal mucosal melanoma".

He begins by talking about the background to the study along with the methodology, stating a patient presented with a blackish mass in the right nasal cavity extending posteriorly. Tumour cells were positive for Human Melanoma Black-45 (HMB-45) on immunohistochemistry, confirming the diagnosis of right nasal cavity malignant melanoma.

Dr Kapoor goes on to explain that intravenous chemotherapy was not feasible as the patient is elderly and immunotherapy was not feasible in view of financial constraints. So oral metronomic (low/spread out doses) chemotherapy was used. Metronomic cyclophosphamide has shown a good safety profile in elderly frail patients, as they have limited hospitalisation time and are able to stay at home for a longer duration.

He concludes by saying that they are looking forward to doing further studies on the use of oral metronomic therapies for patients of mucosal melanomas to find out if this drug is actually active. He doubts that a single case report will change the overall practice, but this is definitely an alternative treatment option when other options are not feasible.

Read the full article here.