Clinical analysis of 29 cases of nasal mucosal malignant melanoma

The present study aimed to investigate the clinical features of nasal mucosa malignant melanoma, including the histopathological features and factors affecting prognosis. A retrospective analysis of the clinical data obtained from the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Tianjin Huanhu Hospital (Tianjin, China) between October 1999 and June 2013 was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method. In total, 29 cases of nasal mucosal malignant melanoma were analyzed. The overall 3- and 5-year survival rates were 48.3 and 27.6%, respectively. The study group consisted of 18 males and 11 females, with a median age of 61.5 years. Overall, 19 patients underwent surgery, 28 received radiotherapy and 17 received chemotherapy. The American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system (AJCC) was used to retrospectively stage the tumors. In total, 8 were tumor stage (T)1, 10 were T2, 6 were T3 and 5 were T4. The results revealed that the T stage, surgical treatment, location of the tumor and the presence of black pigmentation affected the 5-year survival rate of the patients. By contrast, radiotherapy and chemotherapy had no effect on the overall survival rate. Overall, endoscopic or endoscopic-assisted surgery were the preferred methods of treatment, and histological features, including the presence of tumor melanin pigmentation, affected the prognosis of the patients. This study indicated that the AJCC staging system is able to effectively predict the prognosis of patients with nasal mucosa malignant melanoma.