Treatment of metastatic melanoma
Despite the initial surgery and possible adjuvant therapy, some melanomas recur and metastasize. Sometimes metastases are detected already when the melanoma is diagnosed, and these cannot be treated with surgery. In this case, we speak of metastatic melanoma.
A significant number of patients can live for up to years without the metastatic melanoma causing difficult symptoms. Some patients may even recover from metastatic melanoma, but close follow-up is needed to ensure this.
If there is only one metastasis, we select the treatment form in accordance with the location of the foci. We can treat a metastasis with medication, surgery, local therapies, or radiation therapy.
The purpose of immunological drug therapy is to release the body’s own defensive cells to attack the melanoma cells. We trigger this by infusing one or two antibodies into a vein every few weeks.
Antibody therapy is well tolerated by most of the patients, and serious adverse effects do not occur. However, in some patients, the awakened defensive cells attack their own healthy cells, causing various inflammatory conditions in the thyroid, skin, lungs, intestines, joints or liver, for example. If the inflammation is severe, drug treatment is required to control the inflammatory reaction.
In some melanomas, a mutation in the BRAF gene is detected, for which targeted drugs are available as tablets. In most patients, tumors become smaller or even disappear quickly with medication. We will continue treatments with one or two tablets for as long as they keep your disease under control. Typical disadvantages of treatment include fever, fatigue and joint and skin symptoms.
We also use chemotherapy drugs to treat melanoma. Chemotherapy is suitable for patients who are not diagnosed with the BRAF mutation in the melanoma cells or who have a serious autoimmune disease which is usually an obstacle to immunological treatment.
The treatment of metastatic melanoma has developed significantly in recent years, and the development work continues at the Comprehensive Cancer Center. It is possible that we will offer you the opportunity to receive a new medicine that is still under development within a clinical trial. Please refer to our cancer trials that are recruiting patients.
Updated: 11.08.2026