1997 Volume 19 Issue 3 Pages 245-248
In March, 1995, a 59-year-old male was found to have malignant melanoma of the maxilla. He underwent total maxillectomy and was treated postoperatively with chemotherapy. He was followed up as an out-patient. In March, 1996, he suffered from fever and cough. Chest roentgenograms showed infiltrative shadow in the right lower lung field. Tomography and chest computed tomography revealed an obstruction at the orifice of the right basal bronchus, and a black tumor was found on bronchoscopy. Obstructive pneumonia caused by endobronchial metastasis from maxillary melanoma was diagnosed. In cases with malignant melanoma multiple or solitary nodule shadows are common chest roentgenographic findings. Endobronchial metastasis, however, is uncommon. In this case, there was on obvious abnormality on the chest X-ray films during follow-up, but, the patient suffered from obstructive pneumonia due to metastatic lesion of melanoma. Chest CT and bronchoscopy are useful to detect lung metastasis, including endobronchial metastasis from melanoma.
