Abstract
1. Malignant melanomas developing in the mucosa of the head and neck region of 30 patients were distributed as follows: 20 in the nasal cavity, 1 in a maxillary sinus, 6 in the hard palate, 1 in the epipharynx, 1 in a tonsil and 1 in the conjunctival mucosa. Of these cases, 25 were primary and 5 were secondary.
2. Histopathological diagnosis of malignant melanoma was difficult when melanin pigment was not found under the light microscope. In 8 cases (27%), the melanoma was amelanotic and diagnosed first by electron microscope.
3. The clinical course varied greatly. Some patients expired very soon, while others survived an unexpectedly long time. In some cases there were late recurrences and in some cases spontaneously healing. The survival rate among the 25 primary cases was 16% after 5 years and 11% after 10 years.
4. The author's treatment policy was preoperative irradiation (5, 000rad), radical operation with elective neck dissection on both sides and immunotherapy with Nocardia-CWS for a few years. If the case was inoperable, the policy was as much irradiation as possible combined with cryosurgery and immunotherapy.
