[Complex therapy of melanoma metastases in the lung]

The authors present the therapeutic results of 25 patients with melanoma metastases of the lungs: 9 of them received radiotherapy only, 16 radiotherapy combined with i.v. injection of the antitumor antibiotic dactinomycin. The technique of large field irradiation of the lungs was employed as a single exposure (depending on tumor spread) of the entire volume of one or both lungs. The treatment resulted in a decrease of metastases by more than 50% of the initial value in 2 out of 6 patients in the 1st group; in the 2nd group in 16 patients metastases disappeared, in 2 patients they decreased by 50%. Pulmonites prevailed in the group of multiple modality treatment. The authors conclude that dactinomycin raises to a higher power the degree of radiation exposure of melanoma metastases as well as the normal lung tissue.