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. 2019 Nov 15;9:1224. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2019.01224

Table 6.

Melanoma: Included studies evaluating the use of RT for LMD.

References Study type Study Pop With LMD (n) Treatment Era (years) Median Age, years Treatment Median OS (months) Conclusions
Chamberlain et al. (49) Obs 16 1986–1995 47 44% FSRT; 63% WBRT; 75% C 4

  • Limited survival despite aggressive CNS directed therapies
Arasaratnam et al. (50) Obs 14 2012–2015 49.8 36% FSRT; 14% SRS; 50% WBRT; 57% TT; 14% surgery; 61% TT+RT 5.2

  • Modern melanoma therapies can result in symptom improvement with occasional longer survivals; although prognosis is generally still poor

  • Multimodality tx with surgery+RT+TT may be required to prolong survival
Harstad et al. (51) Obs 110 1944–2002 NR 56% WBRT; 33% FSRT; 27% WBRT+FSRT; 38% C; 48% ITC 2.3

  • MVA: primary melanoma on trunk has shorter OS; ITC has longer survival

RT, radiotherapy; LMD, leptomeningeal disease; Pop, population; Obs, observational study; PP, practice patterns; NR, not reported; BSC, best supportive care; C, chemotherapy alone; ITC, intrathecal chemotherapy; WBRT, whole brain radiotherapy; FSRT, spine RT; CSI, craniospinal RT.