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WEDNESDAY, Dec. 10 (HealthDayNews) -- Treatment with low doses of interferon following surgery doesn't improve survival in people with high-risk melanoma skin cancer.

That's what British researchers report in the Dec. 9 online issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The study also found low doses of interferon made no significant difference in preventing cancer recurrence.

"Our study found no clear advantage of low-dose interferon therapy following surgery in high-risk melanoma," lead author Dr. Barry Hancock, a professor in the academic unit of clinical oncology at the University of Sheffield, says in a prepared statement.

For more than a decade, there have been conflicting studies on the efficacy of adjuvant interferon use.

This new study included 674 people with high-risk melanoma -- 338 of the patients received interferon following surgery while 336 received no follow-up treatment. After five years, 63 percent of patients in both groups had a recurrence of cancer and 46 percent of patients in both groups died.

The five-year overall and recurrence-free survival was the same in both groups, an estimated 44 percent and 32 percent, respectively.

"The debate on adjuvant interferon in high-risk melanoma continues. After many years of clinical research, there is good evidence that high-dose interferon improves recurrence-free survival, but no clear evidence of the benefit to overall survival," Hancock says.

"Physicians and patients should be armed with all the facts so that they can make informed decisions regarding treatment," he adds.

More information

Here's where you can learn more about melanoma.

(SOURCE: American Society of Clinical Oncology, news release, Dec. 9, 2003)

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