Abstract
It has been proposed that primary dermal melanoma is a subtype of melanoma confined to the dermis and/or subcutaneous fat that histologically simulates metastasis but is associated with an unexpectedly prolonged survival.
We report on a case of malignant melanoma in the temporal muscle. A 63-year-old woman seen for a mass in her left temporal legion noticeable while masticating, was diagnosed as having malignant melanoma based on the cytological and immunohistochemical findings. However physical and imaging examinations showed no evidence of metastatic melanoma and no EWS-ATF1 fusion transcript specific for clear cell sarcoma was detected. This case was disease-free over 2 years after the operation. We therefore consider that this case was a primary dermal melanoma.
