Primary malignant melanoma of the upper aero-digestive tract

Malignant mucosal melanoma represents 0.3 to 10% of all melanomas. The majo rity of these lesions arise in the oral cavity or paranasal sinuses. Very f ew authors report reliable treatment results, however all suggest a uniform ly poor outcome. A retrospective analysis of all cases of upper aero-digest ive tract melanoma (UADT) treated since 1982 at our centre are presented. D uring the 15-year period, nine cases of UADT melanoma were identified. Thre e patients had a lesion in the palate, two in the maxillary alveolus, two i n the oropharynx, while one each had a lesion in paranasal sinus and lower alveolus. Mean age was 43.25 years (28-62 years), with a male to female rat io of 1.6: 1. Cervical lymphadenopathy was the commonest presenting symptom in seven patients. Radical surgery was carried out in three patients, wide excision in three and radical neck dissection in six, while no surgical in tervention was undertaken in two patients. Median follow-up time was eleven months. In four patients, local recurrence occurred, while three developed pulmonary metastasis. One patient was lost to follow-up. We suggest that d ata from various centres be pooled together in order to carry out a meta-an alysis to address the question of optimal treatment for malignant melanoma of the upper aero-digestive tract.