A Case of Malignant Melanoma in the Submandibular Region

Abstract

We report a case of malignant melanoma in the submandibular region. The patient was a 67-year-old man, who presented with the chief complaint of swelling of the submandibular region on the right side. CT demonstrated a cystic lesion adjacent to the submandibular gland, and the result of fine-needle aspiration cytology was Class III. Submandibular glandectomy was performed, and pathological examination revealed features consistent with metastasis from a malignant melanoma. We attempted to identify the site of the primary lesion, but failed. We suspected that a primary lesion in the head or neck may have disappeared spontaneously, or that there was no primary lesion to begin with. As partial biopsy of a malignant melanoma in the head and neck region may worsen the patient’s prognosis, it is important to consider complete biopsy of a mass in the head and neck region suspected to be a carcinoma of unknown primary.