[Malignant melanoma in children and adolescents. 8 cases]

Eight cases of malignant melanoma developed during childhood have been recorded over a 35-year period. Treatment and course of the disease were extremely variable. Melanomas developed on giant pigmented naevi had a particularly somber prognosis: death occurred within 6, 7 and 3 months respectively in the 3 cases observed. In the 5 remaining cases, the course of the melanoma seemed to be about the same as in adults. The main difficulty resides in the clinical and histopathological diagnosis at that age: although most lesions are benign, uncertainty is not permissible, and in doubtful cases the tumour must be rapidly removed and examined.