Primary malignant melanoma of the female urethra: a case report

A case of primary malignant melanoma of the female urethra is presented. A 65-year-old Japanese woman was referred with dysuria and urethral bleeding. A hemorrhagic blue-black tumor, 3 cm in diameter, was diagnosed as a malignant melanoma by urinary cytology and biopsy. In spite of radical surgery followed by adjuvant immunochemotherapy with beta interferon, dacarbazine, nimustine and vincristine (IFN beta-DAV), the patient died of the disease one year after surgery because of lung metastasis which developed six months after diagnosis. The regional lymph nodes were not involved. In the present paper, we have briefly discussed the diagnostic value of cytological examination for this condition, as well as biopsy, with regard to the risk of hematogeneous tumor spread.