Abstract
Problem statement: Mucosal Melanoma of the Head and Neck (MMHN) is a rare lethal disease. This malignancy accounts for half of all m ucosal melanomas, occurring mainly in the nasal cavity, oral cavity and pharynx. They appear with e qual gender distribution and with a peak incidence in the age range 60-80 years. The aim of this study was to investigate incidence, sex, age and site distribution of MMHN in the Kerman province during the time period from March 1991-2002. Approach: Documents and records of 52 patients with MMHN diagnosed from March 1991-2002 were reviewed. The patients were analyzed according to gender, age and location of the tumor. Data included in the present retrospective study were an alyzed by SPSS13.5 statistical software, t-test and chi-square. Results: During this time period, 52 cases (25 men and 27 w omen) of MMHN were diagnosed. The age range was 7-84 years. The nasal cavity (55.8%) was the most affected site. The palate and upper gingiva was the most common site i n the oral cavity (8 patients, 88.8%). Survivals 5 years in MMHN patients were 27% and patients with mucosal melanoma of oral cavity have an 11%, 5 year survival rate. Conclusion: Comparison between the findings of this study with the results obtained by other investigators showed a relative c onsistency.
Highlights
Malignant melanoma incidence has risen markedly over the past 30-40 years and continues to increase in the United States, Canada, Australia, Asia and Europe[1,2,3,4].Malignant Melanoma (MM) that does not originate in the skin is a very rare tumor and is considered as one of the most deadly of all human neoplasms[5,6,7,8]
Survival from head and neck melanoma is reported as 17% at 5 years[13,21] and the 10 year survival rate is 5%[22]
The aim of this article was to evaluate the prevalence of malignant melanoma of the head and neck in Kerman province, with an emphasis on the clinical manifestations of melanomas involving the oral cavity
Summary
Malignant melanoma incidence has risen markedly over the past 30-40 years and continues to increase in the United States, Canada, Australia, Asia and Europe[1,2,3,4].Malignant Melanoma (MM) that does not originate in the skin is a very rare tumor and is considered as one of the most deadly of all human neoplasms[5,6,7,8]. Malignant melanoma incidence has risen markedly over the past 30-40 years and continues to increase in the United States, Canada, Australia, Asia and Europe[1,2,3,4]. Primary mucosal melanomas of the upper aero-digestive tract are uncommon and represent only 1.7-3% of all primary melanomas[1,2,3,4,9,10]. The first case in the English literature were reported in 1885 by Lincoln: Since that time, over 1000 patients have been reviewed[11]. The most frequent localizations are the nasal fossae, the paranasal sinuses and the oral cavity where melanomas most often arise from the palate and alveolar ridge, buccal mucosa, lips, tongue and floor of mouth. MMHN comprise about 1-8% of all malignant melanomas[1,2,3,4,9,10] and comprise> 20% of all melanomas of the head and neck melanomas[4,10,12]
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