Ragini Kudchadkar, MD

Ragini Kudchadkar, MD, associate professor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, associate director, Hematology and Medical Oncology Fellowship Program-Clinical/Service, Emory University School of Medicine, Winship Cancer Institute, discusses the overall prognosis of patients with ocular melanoma.

Ocular melanoma is a different &ldquo;beast&rdquo; than cutaneous melanoma, says Kudchadkar. The biology of the disease itself is very different in ocular melanoma, particularly in terms of how it primarily metastasizes to the liver, although it can go to other places.

Responses to traditional therapies, including immunotherapy, are not yet near the degree of responses observed in patients with cutaneous melanoma, so patients&rsquo; prognosis is much more guarded, according to Kudchadkar. In patients with ocular melanoma, research has not made advances near the level of advancements that have been made in cutaneous melanoma. More research is necessary for the patient population.

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Ragini Kudchadkar, MD, discusses the overall prognosis of patients with ocular melanoma.

Evaluating Prognosis of Patients With Ocular Melanoma

Ragini Kudchadkar, MD, assistant professor, medical oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses the benefits of combining BRAF and MEK inhibitors when treating melanoma.

Early data has shown that the combination of BRAF and MEK inhibitors improve outcomes compared with single agents in patients with melanoma

By combining the agents, the mechanism of resistance from the cancer cell is blocked. This allows patients to stay on therapy longer and decreases skin toxicities that are seen in single agent use

The combination of BRAF and MEK inhibitors will likely become the next standard of care

Ragini Kudchadkar, MD, discusses the benefits of combining BRAF and MEK inhibitors when treating melanoma.

Combining BRAF and MEK Inhibitors to Treat Melanoma

Ragini Kudchadkar, MD, assistant professor, medical oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses testing in patients with melanoma.

If a patient with melanoma is not on a clinical trial, Kudchadkar says, they need to be tested if they have a chance to benefit from a targeted therapy.Though

mutational status is typically looked at in patients with stage IV disease, most physicians believe that a high-risk patient with stage III disease should also be tested. This population of patients has a high risk of recurrence, Kudchadkar says, sometimes as high as 70%.

Kudchadkar says she does not recommend testing patients with early stage disease, as they can be cured with surgery alone.

Testing needs to be done for those patients who have a chance to benefit from a targeted therapy

Ragini Kudchadkar, MD | Authors

Articles

Evaluating Prognosis of Patients With Ocular Melanoma

Combining BRAF and MEK Inhibitors to Treat Melanoma

Testing Patients With Melanoma