Abstract

Spontaneous regression of a primary lesion was observed in two patients with metastatic malignant melanoma. A 58-year-old man had had a greyish-brown nail and a greyish-brown pigmentation on the tip of the right index finger. The nail subsequently dropped off. The pigmentation gradually decreased in size and color followed by a swelling of right axillary lymph nodes. Another patient, 87-year-old man, had had a brown, grey, bluish, mottled pigmentation on his left sole for 30 years. He developed a tumor in his left inguinal region three years before which gradually enlarged. In both cases, the pigmented lesions considered to be primary lesions were slightly greyish-brown, mottled pigmentation within the boundaries of primary lesions, in which skin markings were obliterated. Histological findings of primary lesions in these patients were compatible with those reported in spontaneously regressing malignant melanoma. The patients were treated with repeated chemotherapy consisting of CDDP, DITC, ACNU, and Tamoxifen. They are still alive one and three years, respectively, after the recognition of the metastatic lesions.