Phase II Trial of Neoadjuvant Temozolomide in Melanoma Patients With Palpable Stage III or IV Disease Undergoing Complete Surgical Resection

"At the start of the trial a core needle biopsy of a palpable tumor will be obtained percutaneously in the office after administration of local anesthesia. Patients will then be treated with TMZ according to the extended dosing schedule of 75mg/m2/day x 6 weeks every 8 weeks. After each cycle, patients will be re-evaluated for response.~Responding patients will be offered another cycle of treatment. Patients will be treated until best response, progression of disease, or 6 cycles, whichever comes first.~After completing temozolomide treatment, patients will be evaluated for surgical resection. It is expected that, unless there is progression of disease, patients will undergo resection (i.e. therapeutic lymph node dissection). In patients who have a complete clinical response to temozolomide, whether or not to do a subsequent lymph node dissection will be left up to the discretion of the surgeon and the patient."