Primary malignant melanoma of the upper aero-digestive tract

Malignant mucosal melanoma represents 0.3 to 10% of all melanomas. The majority of these lesions arise in the oral cavity or paranasal sinuses. Very few authors report reliable treatment results, however all suggest a uniformly poor outcome. A retrospective analysis of all cases of upper aero-digestive tract melanoma (UADT) treated since 1982 at our centre are presented. During the 15-year period, nine cases of UADT melanoma were identified. Three patients had a lesion in the palate, two in the maxillary alveolus, two in the oropharynx, while one each had a lesion in paranasal sinus and lower alveolus. Mean age was 43.25 years (28-62 years), with a male to female ratio of 1.6:1. Cervical lymphadenopathy was the commonest presenting symptom in seven patients. Radical surgery was carried out in three patients, wide excision in three and radical neck dissection in six, while no surgical intervention was undertaken in two patients. Median follow-up time was eleven months. In four patients, local recurrence occurred, while three developed pulmonary metastasis. One patient was lost to follow-up. We suggest that data from various centres be pooled together in order to carry out a meta-analysis to address the question of optimal treatment for malignant melanoma of the upper aero-digestive tract.