Five recent developments in cutaneous oncology

Recent developments reported on Healio.com/Dermatology have included survey results of why Mohs surgeons practice in academic settings.

Other developments included study results showing that the elimination of a pretreatment biopsy resulted in cost savings and maintenance of quality of care, and peripheral global nevi being associated with symmetrical growth:

Intellectual stimulation, teaching main reasons Mohs surgeons give for working in academia

Seventy-one percent of academic Mohs surgeons plan on staying in academia, with intellectual stimulation and teaching opportunities given as the top reasons for practicing in an academic setting, according to recently published survey results.

Researchers electronically distributed a two-part Internet based survey to members of the American College of Mohs Surgery in 2013. Read more

Peripheral globular nevi strongly associated with growth

Nevi displaying a peripheral globular pattern were strongly associated with symmetrical growth, according to study results.

Researchers retrospectively identified 84 patients with 121 peripheral globular nevi (PGN), with cohorts recruited from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Melanoma Unit of the Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona; and Study of Nevi in Children between Sept. 1, 1999, and May 1, 2013. Read more

Eliminating pretreatment biopsy reduced cost without compromising care for BCC

A simplified detect-and-treat scheme that eliminates the biopsy before initiating treatment of basal cell carcinoma resulted in cost savings while maintaining quality of care, according to recently published study results.

Researchers developed a decision analytic model to compare costs of traditional basal cell carcinoma (BCC) management, which involved pretreatment biopsy in all cases, and a detect-and-treat scheme, in which patients presenting with well-delineated and unequivocal BCC lesions were offered shave removal or referred to a Mohs micrographic surgeon, who conducted an on-site histologic check. Read more

Novartis receives EU approval for combination treatment of metastatic melanoma

Novartis has received European Commission approval for the combination of Tafinlar and Mekinist to treat metastatic melanoma with a BRAF V600 mutation, according to a company release.

Marketing authorization was based on results from the Phase 3 COMBI-d and COMBI-v studies, in which the combination showed significant overall survival benefit vs. Tafinlar (dabrafenib) and Zelboraf (vemurafenib, Genentech) monotherapies, the release said. Read more

Local administration of CpG-B prolongs RFS in early-stage melanoma

Patients with stage I or stage II melanoma who received the immune system-boosting agent CpG-B appeared less likely to experience disease recurrence than patients who received placebo, according to study results presented at the CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference in New York.

Tanja D. deGruijl

CpG-B (Pfizer) — a reagent that resembles bacterial DNA — activates an immune response, causing it to attack the melanoma cells, according to Tanja D. de Gruijl, PhD, professor and head of the immunotherapy lab in the department of medical oncology at VU University Medical and Cancer Center in Amsterdam. Read more