2001 Volume 13 Issue 2 Pages 203-207
Most cases of malignant melanoma show poor prognosis because of the high possibility of distant metastasis and local recurrence. This paper describes a case of primary amelanotic malignant melanoma in the hard palatal mucosa of a 57- year-old man. This case shows that amelanotic malignant melanoma with primary lesion in the hard palatal mucosa was successfully treated with only an intra-tumoral injection of interfbron (IFN)-β, resulting in complete response (CR). This case had a CR after about 4 months. The number of local injections of IFN-β was 82, and the total quandty was 23, 200×104IU. After this treatment, neither local recurrence nor local metastasis was clinically observed; however, the patient died of multiple liver metastasis.
Primary treatment of malignant melanoma is a wide range excision of the tumor lesion and its surrounding normal tissue. However, when it is not possible because, the specific anatomical structure of the head and neck make such treatment difficult, the intra-tumoral injection of IFN would be the optimum treatment.
