Reason for withdrawal from publication
The Cochrane Skin Group made the decision to allow another team to incorporate the subject of this review into the protocol that they were writing in order to update another review that has been out of date for some years. We feel it makes clinical sense to combine these two reviews.
This review is being withdrawn as it has been updated by incorporation into another broader Cochrane review 'Systemic treatments for metastatic cutaneous melanoma'. The citation for the new review is as follows: Pasquali S, Hadjinicolaou AV, Chiarion Sileni V, Rossi CR, Mocellin S. Systemic treatments for metastatic cutaneous melanoma. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2018, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD011123. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD011123.pub2.
The editorial group responsible for this previously published document have withdrawn it from publication.
Feedback
Comment from Douglas Grindlay 09 July 07
Summary
Date of Submission: 09‐Jul‐2007 Name: Douglas Grindlay Personal Description: Occupation NLH Dermatology Information Specialist
Feedback: In the context of my role compiling uncertainties for the Database of Uncertainties of Effects of Treatments (DUETs), I found it difficult to tell from this review whether the conclusion is that chemoimmunotherapy definitely has no advantage in terms of survival over chemotherapy, or whether there is still uncertainty over whether chemoimmunotherapy does work better. Given that 18 trials were found and the meta‐analysis showed significant effect on survival, why would further research need to be done (see conclusion that "Further use of combined immunotherapy and chemotherapy should only be done in the context of clinical trials")?
Submitter agrees with default conflict of interest statement: I certify that I have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with a financial interest in the subject matter of my feedback.
Reply
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your important comments. Our review found differences in response rates, but not in survival as described by Dr. Grindlay. Therefore, we concluded that there is not enough evidence that chemoimmunotherapy is more effective than chemotherapy alone in terms of survival. This conclusion is in conflict with some international guidelines recommendations (NCCN, NCI,etc), which include chemoimmunotherapy as a valid option to treat melanoma patients.
In addition to the need to demonstrate survival benefit for chemoimmunotherapy over chemotherapy, we also suggest that chemoimmunotherapy could be studied with different combinations of drugs and different doses, other than those used in existing trials included in the review. These are the main reasons why we concluded that there are still uncertainties that require new trials in the future.
Best wishes,
Andre Sasse
Contributors
Author of comments: Douglas Grindlay
Author responding: Andre Sasse
What's new
| Date | Event | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 6 February 2018 | Amended | This review is being withdrawn. A published note has been added. |
History
Protocol first published: Issue 3, 2005 Review first published: Issue 1, 2007
| Date | Event | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 18 July 2013 | Amended | This review is going to be updated. We have written a published note to say that this review will be updated by incorporation into another broader Cochrane review. The protocol of this is currently being written. |
| 6 September 2008 | Amended | Converted to new review format. |
Withdrawn from publication for reasons stated in the review