Head and Neck Primary Mucosal Melanoma: Report of 17 Cases

Btissaam Belhoucha¹, Zahra Essaadi², Youssef Rochdi¹, Hassan Nouri¹, Lahcen Aderdour¹, Mona Khouchani², Abdelaziz Raji¹

¹Department of ENT, CHU Med VI, Marrakech, Morocco.
²Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, CHU Med VI, Marrakech, Morocco.

DOI: 10.4236/ijohns.2015.42016                

Abstract

Introduction: Mucosal melanoma (MM) is a rare disease, accounting for 1.7% - 3% of all melanomas and 8% of all head and neck melanomas. It’s a rare cancer with a very poor prognosis. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 17 patients with primary mucosal melanomas of the head and neck who were diagnosed between January 2007 and December 2012. Results: Our patient population included 9 women and 8 men. The age ranged from 61 to 75 years. The primary site of disease was in the sinonasal cavity for 12 patients (70%) and oral cavity for 5 patients. Treatment modalities for mucosal melanoma include surgical resection with or without neck dissection, immunochemotherapy, and radiation therapy (RT). 15 patients had attempted curative resections. Two patients received palliative radiation therapy as the primary treatment and chemotherapy as the adjuvant treatment. Discussion: Primary mucosal melanoma is a rare cancer and represents only 1.7% - 3% of all primary melanomas [1]-[3]. Mucosal melanoma must always be considered for multimodality therapy: surgical excision, medical oncology, and radiation therapy. Despite its radioresistant nature of tumor, the role of radiation therapy following surgical intervention has typically been advocated.

Keywords

Malignant Melanoma, Oral Mucosa, Sinonasal Cavity, Radiation Therapy, Prognosis

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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