Dr. Sznol on Managing Patients Beyond Initial Treatment in Melanoma

Mario Sznol, MD, professor of medicine, co-director, Yale SPORE in Skin Cancer, Yale Cancer Center, discusses the management of patients with melanoma who progress on immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Patients who have discordant progression in 1 or 2 lesions could undergo surgery to have those lesions removed, says Sznol.

Another option for patients who respond to initial therapy is to retreat them with nivolumab (Opdivo) or ipilimumab (Yervoy) as these patients may achieve a second respond from these agents.

Additionally, BRAF inhibitors could be introduced in patients who have BRAF mutations, says Sznol.

There are a number of strategies beyond initial therapy with an immune checkpoint inhibitor that allow patients to remain progression free for 5 years, concludes Snzol.