2017 Volume 79 Issue 3 Pages 255-259
Case 1. A 46-year-old man presented with digestive symptoms and was diagnosed with intussusception during the treatment of malignant melanoma on the back. A lesion was detected in the small intestine and it was histologically diagnosed as a small intestinal metastasis of malignant melanoma. Case 2. A 37-year-old man, who had a 7-cm ulcerative lesion detected by endoscopy during an examination for anemia, was histologically diagnosed with a small intestinal metastasis of malignant melanoma. He had a 3-year history of a pigmented lesion on his left lower leg, and histopathological findings of the skin lesion revealed a regression stage of malignant melanoma. Thus, we regarded it as a primary lesion. It is rare to diagnose metastases of malignant melanoma to the small intestine in living patients. However, there have been many such case reports in autopsy subjects. In Japan, relatively large numbers of malignant melanoma with acute abdomen have been reported. We must pay much attention to the small intestinal metastasis of malignant melanoma because it may cause serious symptoms,such as intussusception and gastrointestinal perforation, although it is difficult to detect the metastases.
