Prepubertal malignant melanoma: Report of three cases

Prepuberial malignant melanoma (MM) is an extremely rare tumor. In Slovenia , 13 MM cases were registered between 1968 and 1996 by the Cancer Registry of Slovenia. The diagnosis of MM was confirmed by histology in 3 children. In 3 other children the lesions initially diagnosed as MM were reclassified as Spitz nevus. In the remaining cases, the slides were not accessible for histological review, and the clinical course of disease corroborated the d iagnosis of a benign nevus. In the present report, 3 of 13 cases with histo logically confirmed prepubertal MM are described. The difficulties encounte red in the diagnosis and management of this rare condition are discussed.