Mucosal malignant melanoma of the head and neck: Clinical analysis of 12 cases

Abstract

The present report describes the treatment of 12 patients with primary mucosal malignant melanoma of the head and neck who visited our department between 2011 and 2017. There were 6 men and 6 women, aged 61-90 years （median, 76.5 years）, and the observation period was 7-165 months （median, 37 months）. Further, 11 patients （92％） presented with primary lesions located in the nasal/paranasal cavities and 1 patient （8％） with the primary lesion located in the oral cavity. The 3-year overall survival rate, as assessed using the Kaplan-Mei-er method, was 56％. Among 8 patients with primary malignant melanoma of the nasal/paranasal cavities who underwent carbon-ion radiotherapy or surgery as a radical treatment, the 3-year local control and 3-year recur-rence-free survival rates were 56％ and 38％, respectively. The local control rate was higher in the carbon-ion radiotherapy group. In 12 patients, the 5-year incidence of distant metastasis was as high as 75, and