[Intrafocal BCG therapy of metastasizing malignant melanoma]

Therapeutical possibilities and side effects of intrafocal BCG-vaccination into metastases of malignant melanomas are discussed. Only in one of our three cases, this special method of unspecific immunstimulation induced a remarkable regression of tumor size. The second patient showed a partial remission and in the third there was no effect at all. Besides local irritation with ulceration we observed severe generalized side effects in all patients. A granulomatous hepatitis, which represents the most severe complication of this therapeutical method, occurred in one case. Its successful treatment with tuberculostatic agents favors the assumption of an infectious genesis.