A Phase II Trial of Complete Surgical Resection For Stage IV Melanoma -- Surgical Resection With Biological Evaluation and Clinical Follow-Up

OBJECTIVES:

• Assess overall and progression-free survival in patients with metastatic melanoma (beyond the draining lymph nodes) after complete surgical resection of all known disease.
• Determine the ability of the Southwest Oncology Group Melanoma Committee to enroll patients with metastatic melanoma who can be resected to a disease-free state.

OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study.

All patients undergo gross total resection of all known disease. Patients whose disease cannot be completely resected or who have disease recurrence after surgery are removed from study. Patients found to have microscopic residual disease after surgery are considered completely resected. Resected tissue is submitted for analysis on protocol SWOG-9431.

Patients may receive any adjuvant therapy (e.g., radiotherapy, interferon, and/or vaccines) deemed clinically appropriate by the treating physician.