[Gastrointestinal metastases of malignant melanoma]

Malignant melanomas are aggressive malignant tumors with major potential for the development of distant metastases. The authors present five case reviews of melanoma intestinal metastases, which were managed surgically. BASE REVIEW 1: A male, 65 y.o.a, underwent planned resection of the small intestine infiltrated with metastases 19 months after he was diagnosed with skin melanoma. During his follow up period, he died of complications of cerebral metastases of the tumor. BASE REVIEW 2: A female, 34 y.o.a, 5 months after the first occurrence of signs of the disease, which included neurological symptoms resulting from a brain metastasis. She was urgently operated for ileus, caused by a jejunal metastis of the tumor. The patient died following dissemination of the primary tumor 2 months after her abdominal procedure. BASE REVIEW 3: A female, 30 y.o.a. 52 months after removal of her skin melanoma, she was urgenty operated for ileus, caused by a jejunal metastasis of the tumor. She had no postoperative complications. BASE REVIEW 4: A female, 68 y.o.a, 26 months after being diagnosed with skin melanoma, underwent planned abdominal revision for multiple intestinal metastases. She died of massive pulmonary embolization on the postoperative Day 6. BASE REVIEW 5: A male, 76 y.o.a, underwent resection of a sigmoid metastasis 72 months after his skin melanoma excision. Further course of the disease shows no signs of the primary disease recurrence, the patient is surviving 153 months after the primary diagnosis establishment, 59 months after the distant large intestinal metastasis resection.

The authors present literature overview, assessing contribution of surgery in the management of malignant melanomas with GIT metastases. The literature data show that complete resections of all GIT metastatic melanoma foci result in the mean survival time prolongation in selected patients.