Thermal Neutron Capture Therapy: The Japanese-Australian Clinical Trial for Malignant Melanoma

Abstract

Australians of Anglo-Celtic origin are constitutionally unsuited to living in a tropical environment. They suffer not only from weathered skin, solar keratoses, basal and squamous cell carcinomas, but also from an increasing incidence of malignant melanoma¹. The northern state of Queensland has the highest incidence of melanoma in the world, at 35 cases per 100,000. New South Wales has half that rate, but because of the larger population and centralised nature of treatment, the Sydney Melanoma Unit has the largest case load in the world, with more than 700 new cases each year. Despite early diagnosis and curative surgery in the majority of these patients, there remain a number of patients with locally recurrent or metastatic melanoma which present a therapeutic challenge. Current therapy for these patients is almost always unsatisfactory.