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Local control of primary oropharyngeal malignant melanomas with limited tissue excision: a report of three cases.

Oztürk O, Cansiz H, Güzel MZ, Karakullukçu B, Ozek H

Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Duzce Medical Faculty of Abant Izzet Baysal University, Duzce, Turkey. ozturko_70@yahoo.com

Mucosal malignant melanomas are rare lesions, and they have different characteristics from their cutaneous counterparts. Since extended excisions of mucosal malignant melanomas located in the oropharyngeal region cause significant morbidity, limited surgical excision comes into consideration. Three cases of extensive oropharyngeal malignant melanomas were resected with 0.5-1.5-cm healthy tissue margins. The cases were followed for local recurrences. Case 1 applied radiotherapy and chemotherapy in addition to immunotherapy, and the patient is still alive without any local recurrences 18 months after surgery. The patient in case 2 underwent radiotherapy and immunotherapy and died 6 months after surgery. The patient in case 3 received chemotherapy in addition to immunotherapy and died 12 months after surgery as a result of distant metastasis. All cases were without any local recurrences. Surgical excision with limited tumor-free tissue margins may be the surgery of choice to prevent morbidity associated with wide resection of oropharyngeal malignant melanomas if other authors also reconfirm these results with many more cases in the future.

Published 4 March 2005 in Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol, 262(2): 89-92.
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