Primary malignant melanoma of the pharynx

Primary mucosal malignant melanomas are rare. They appear late in life and their prognosis is grave. Although there is no consensus on therapy, wide s urgical resection followed by radiotherapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy are treatment modalities. In this report we present a case of widespread pr imary mucosal malignant melanoma located in the pharynx. After immunotherap y (four cycles of interleukin-2 and interferon-alpha) and chemotherapy (fou r cycles of cisplatin and dacarbazine) has been applied as primary therapy for suppression of the mass, transoral total pharyngeal resection was perfo rmed. After surgery three cycles of immunotherapy and three cycles of chemo therapy were administered followed by radiotherapy (total dose of 6600 cGy) . An additional three cycles of immunotherapy and chemotherapy were adminis tered. Although no local recurrence was observed during the 14 months of fo llow-up after the completion of radiotherapy, cranial and lung metastasis w ere detected in the 12th month.