Abstract
Mucosal malignant melanoma arising in the mucosa of the head and neck region is an infrequently encountered clinical entity. The only curative treatment for melanoma is surgical. Very wide excisions in order to obtain adequate margins have been advocated for melanoma but have no place in head and neck melanoma treatment because of anatomical considerations. For these reasons, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy has been advocated for melanoma of the head and neck. Recently we investigated, for musocal malignant melanoma of head and neck, some combinations of chemotherapy regimens (VBM, VMBM, HAB, and VMB) and obtained good results. Four patients with mucosal malignant melanoma were entered in the study. Objective partial responses were seen of two of two patients receiving VMB, two of two receiving VMBM, zero of one receiving HAB, and one of three receiving VMB. Although there was significant toxicity, it appeared tolerable, and there was no drug death.
