Primary malignant melanoma of the common bile duct

Biliary tract obstruction in a 30-year-old man was found to be caused by a malignant melanoma in the common bile duct. Melanin pigment was demonstrated by immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. Extensive search for a primary malignant melanoma elsewhere was unsuccessful. No pigmented lesions had been removed previously. There were junctional changes in the mucosa of the common bile duct close to the tumor. The malignant melanoma in the common bile duct therefore is considered to be primary. Only one other case of primary malignant melanoma in the common bile duct has been described in the literature, whereas metastases to the major bile ducts in one autopsy study of malignant melanoma in the more common locations were found with a frequency of 6 per cent.