Surgical treatment of metastatic melanoma of the small bowel

Eighteen of 1420 patients with primary cutaneous melanoma presented with symptomatic small bowel metastases and were reviewed to establish the role and efficacy of surgical intervention. The median interval between treatment of the initial skin lesion and detection of the intestinal metastases was 4.4 years (range, 2 months to 15 years). Most patients presented with either anemia, abdominal pain, bowel obstruction, or intussusception. In six patients, small bowel involvement was the first sign of metastatic disease. Seventeen of the 18 patients underwent laparotomy, and all overt metastases were completely excised in 12. Three patients died postoperatively. Fourteen of the 17 patients had satisfactory palliation with complete symptomatic relief. Median survival after resection was 13 months (range, 2 days to 300 months). Median survival of the 12 patients in whom all macroscopic disease was resected was 44.5 months (range, 2-300 months), whereas the median survival in the four with incompletely resected tumors was 4 weeks (range, 2 days-24 weeks). Five of 12 patients who underwent complete resection of small bowel metastases survived more than 6 years, 3 of whom remain well and free of disease at 6, 14, and 25 years. These results justify active surgical intervention in patients with symptomatic small bowel metastatic melanoma, both for relief of symptoms and prolongation of life.