SYNCHRONOUS ANORECTAL MALIGNANT-MELANOMA AND RECTAL ADENOCARCINOMA - REPOSE OF A CASE

BACKGROUND: Synchronous neoplasms of the rectum are an uncommon condit ion. The situation becomes more rare when tumors are of different orig in. To the authors' knowledge, synchronous anorectal melanoma and aden ocarcinoma of the rectum have not been reported in the literature befo re. METHODS AND RESULTS: A 67-year-old female patient with synchronous anorectal malignant melanoma and adenocarcinoma of the rectum is desc ribed. She had preoperative colonoscopic diagnosis. The different neop lasms' origin was histologically proven. Surgical management consisted of abdominoperineal resection of the rectum. Postoperatively, the pat ient received adjuvant chemotherapy of six cycles duration. At present , the patient has completed 32 months of follow-up. There is no eviden ce of recurrent disease or distant metastases. CONCLUSION: Review of t he literature confirms the rarity of anorectal malignant melanoma. On the other hand, the rectum represents the most common site for develop ment of colonic adenocarcinoma. We were unable to trace synchronous pr esentation of these two tumors. Prognosis should be defined by the mos t malignant neoplasm; therefore, management should be focused on treat ing the melanoma.