Desmoplastic malignant melanoma of the palatal alveolar mucosa: Sustained disease-free survival after surgery and postoperative radiotherapy

Aggressive surgical and radiotherapeutic management or a patient with desmo plastic malignant melanoma arising from the mucosa of the oral cavity has r esulted in disease-free survival of more than 2 1/2 years after diagnosis. This case represents only the tenth reported instance of desmoplastic malig nant melanoma arising from the oral cavity and only the third for which sur vival has exceeded 2 years. Details of the clinical, histopathologic, and t herapeutic features of the case are provided to augment the paucity of lite rature available to clinicians managing this rare disease.