Primary malignant melanoma of the uterine cervix: Case report and review of the literature

This is a case report and review of the literature on primary melanoma of t he cervix. There have been only 26 published cases of primary cervical mela noma and most are poorly documented and doubtful, The patients' ages ranged from 26 to 78 years old with a mean age of 55 +/- 13 years. The main prese nting symptom was vaginal bleeding (83.0%). The majority of the patients, 8 8%, presented in stage I or II. Treatment varied from a simple excision of a cervical mass to a radical hysterectomy with lymph node dissection and ad juvant radiation or chemotherapy. Our patient presented with vaginal bleedi ng and was diagnosed as having stage IIa cervical melanoma. She underwent a radical hysterectomy, partial vaginectomy, and pelvic and paraaortic lymph node dissection. She received adjuvant radiation therapy and her survival was 29 months. The prognosis of primary cervical melanoma is usually poor a nd unpredictable. We recommend a radical hysterectomy and vaginectomy, if n ecessary, to obtain negative surgical margins of at least 2 cm. We advocate lymphadenectomy only for grossly positive nodes, (C) 1999 Academic Press.