[Modern tumor therapy as seen in melanoma]

Modern therapy of melanoma should always consider the prognosis of the disease. Primary low-risk melanomas with tumor-thickness below 1 mm can be treated by surgery with a safety margin of 1 cm. If the tumor-thickness is more than 2 mm the safety margin should be at least 3 cm. After the resection of lymph node metastases adjuvant treatment using Interferon-alpha should be considered. Palliative therapy of metastases includes surgery, radiotherapy and chemoimmunotherapy. Recent progress in understanding the immunobiology of melanoma and the development of gene therapy has offered new perspectives for future therapeutical intervention.