Active clinical trials for "Melanoma"

The purpose of this study is to assess post operative pain following the insertion of radioactive plaque for choroidal melanoma in patients after receiving either ibuprofen or tramadol.

This study evaluates the safety, the immunological response and the clinical outcome of a vaccination with survivin peptides for patients with advanced melanoma, pancreatic, colon and cervical carcinoma.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as dacarbazine, use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Oblimersen may help dacarbazine kill more tumor cells by making them more sensitive to the drug. PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying how well giving oblimersen together with dacarbazine works in treating patients with advanced malignant melanoma that previously responded to treatment with oblimersen and dacarbazine on clinical trial GENTA-GM301.

RATIONALE: Interferon alfa may interfere with the growth of cancer cells. It is not known whether giving high-dose or low-dose interferon alfa is more effective than no further therapy in treating patients with stage III melanoma. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of high- or low-dose interferon alfa with that of no further therapy following surgery in treating patients who have stage III melanoma.

RATIONALE: Interferon alfa may interfere with the growth of the cancer cells. It is not yet known if this treatment is more effective than observation following surgery for stage III melanoma. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to determine the effectiveness of interferon alfa in treating patients who have undergone surgery for stage III melanoma.

RATIONALE: Vaccines may make the body build an immune response to kill tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase I/II trial to study the effectiveness of vaccine therapy in treating patients who have stage II, stage III, or stage IV melanoma.

RATIONALE: Vaccines may make the body build an immune response to kill tumor cells. It is not yet known whether vaccine therapy is more effective than observation alone for melanoma. PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying vaccine therapy to see how well it works compared to observation alone in treating patients with primary stage II melanoma.

In this clinical feasibility study the investigators will test and compare two advanced optical imaging technologies, lipid and RNA tape stripping with regards to diagnostic accuracies for fast bedside diagnosis of pigmented skin tumours.

This pilot clinical trial studies intravital microscopy in identifying tumor vessels in patients with stage IB-IIIC melanoma undergoing sentinel lymph node biopsy. By examining sentinel lymph nodes through intravital microscopy before they are removed, doctors may learn specific information regarding how melanoma may spread to lymph nodes and other sites of the body.

The incidence of cutaneous melanoma (MM) is increasing worldwide. The best therapeutical solution for MM is early diagnosis and efforts over the last 50 years have been directed towards early and precise diagnoses. Dermoscopy has improved diagnostic accuracy compared to the naked eye, but is limited by an associated higher number of unnecessary excisions. Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is a novel technique enabling in vivo examination of the skin at cellular-level resolution, with excellent diagnostic accuracy. This study hypothesis is that the systematic application of RCM in the triage and management of patients suspicious for skin cancer, may improve diagnostic accuracy and reduce the number of unnecessary biopsy. Reducing the burden of unnecessary surgery excisions should benefit the health system, both in saving surgical and pathology procedural associated costs and reducing the overwhelming waiting lists for excisions and consequent risk for delayed diagnoses.