A Review of Novel Systemic Therapies and Brain Radiosurgery for Metastatic Melanoma

Melanoma is a prevalent and particularly aggressive form of skin cancer. Although local disease can be treated well with excision, metastatic extracranial and intracranial disease can be very difficult to treat. Systemic therapies for melanoma have only recently led to statistically significant increases in overall survival with drugs such as Ipilimumab and Vemurafenib. Additionally, melanoma has been classically described as a relatively radio-resistant malignancy. Because of the potential radio-resistance, stereotactic radiosurgery has been widely utilized for intracranial brain metastases and clinical data has revealed excellent rates of local tumor control and tolerability with these highly focused radiation doses.