Abstract
We investigated the clinopathological and immunohistochemical features of 22 cases of malig nant melanoma of the head and neck who were treated at our hospital from 1993 to 2003. Thirteen patients were males and 9 were females. Their ages ranged from 42 to 81 years old, with an average age of 65 years. The primary tumor sites were the nasal cavities in 12, the paranasal sinuses in 5, the head and neck skins in 3, the oral cavity in one and the nasopharynx in one. Seventeen patients re ceived radical treatment while palliative treatment was performed in 5 patients. The disease-specific survival rate was 25.7% at 3 years and 5 years. The treatment group consisted of a local resection and adjuvant chemotherapy showed a better progmosis than the others. Immunohistologically, 13 patients expressed HMB45, 4 expressed VEGF, 6 expressed RCAS-1 and 8 expressed MMP9 in a total of 18 patients. These results indicate that a local resection of the tumor provides the best efficacy in managing head and neck malignant melanoma. Adjuvant chemotherapy as well as radiotherapy therefore appears to have a beneficial effect in controlling the disease.
