Metastatic malignant melanoma: a case report

The incidence of melanoma has been increasing although the cancer of the other sites is decreasing.3 Malignant melanoma are derived from the melanocytes.1Skin is the most common site of occurrence however other organs like eye, oral and nasal mucosa, anorectal mucosa and CNS tend to occur.1 It is the 5th most common cancer in men.5 The 5-year survival rate is only 15% for distant metastasis, improved only slightly from 12% in the past decade.5 70% of all cutaneous melanomas have CDKN2A mutations.5 Mutations in N-RAS and BRAF, the proteins involved in MAPK pathway were found in 20% and 60% cases respectively.5 The most commonly seen BRAF mutation is a substitution of valine with glutamate (V600E).5 The most common sites of melanoma are legs in women and back in men.1Macroscopic locoregional lymph node metastasis reduces fiveyear survival to 43%. Patients who had locoregional metastasis had a better survival rate than those with metastasis to viscera.1 Sentinel lymph node status remains an important prognostic factor for survival of patients with melanoma.1