[Primary malignant melanoma of the esophagus]

Primary malignant melanoma of the esophagus is extremely rare. Less than 200 cases have been published worldwide up to now. We report a case of a 65-years old male suffering from dysphagia for four months. The endoscopy showed a polypoidal tumor of black colour in the distal part of the esophagus. The histological diagnosis of the initial biopsy specimen was melanoma. Partial esophagectomy and lymph node sampling were performed. The resected specimen showed a polypoid tumor with black pigmentation of 8 x 5 x 3 centimeter. Histopathology revealed a primary malignant melanoma of the esophagus stage pT2 pN1 M0 and grading three. The patient died 8 months after resection from general metastatic disease. Age, sex, symptoms, duration of symptoms and time of survival are similar as described in former cases.