Perspective of radiotherapy in the treatment of malignant melanoma

Melanoma is an aggressive and often fatal type of cancer. The primary treatment for melanoma is the wide surgical excision of the primary tumor and affected lymph nodes. Areas of recent used of radiotherapy include adjuvant radiotherapy for selected high risk patients with node-positive disease, radiosurgery for brain metastases and plaque brachytherapy for uveal melanoma. A better understanding of mechanism of melanoma cell cycle is to better explain the relative radioresistance of different melanoma cells and how radiation may be combined with immunotherapy. (author)