MALIGNANT-MELANOMA METASTATIC TO THE OVARY

The diagnosis of malignant melanoma metastatic to the ovary is rarely made in living patients. A case of malignant melanoma metastatic to on e ovary, skin of both axillae, and brain occurring 7 years after wide local excision of the primary cutaneous lesion on the patient's back i s described. The patient had total abdominal hysterectomy, bilataral s alpingo-oophorectomy, infracolic omentectomy, and selective pelvic ret roperitoneal lymphadenectomy, followed by whole brain irradiation and chemoimmunotherapy. This case illustrates the clinical variability and unpredictable biologic behavior of malignant melanoma and it is concl uded that malignant melanoma metastatic to the ovary should be suspect ed in any patient who presents with an adnexal mass and has a history of malignant melanoma. (C) 1998 Academic Press.