6533b826fe1ef96bd128517c

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Therapy and prognosis of extraoral malignant melanoma metastasizing to the jaw: case report and literature review.

subject

description

t a d With approximately 75% of all skin cancer-related deaths, malignant melanoma (MM) is the most lethal among common skin cancers, mostly because of its disposition to early lymphogenic and hematogenic metastasis. If a MM is diagnosed early, the overall prognosis is excellent, but once metastasized it becomes an incurable disease with high mortality. Prognosis is dependent on parameters such as gender, anatomic location, level of invasion, thickness, type of primary tumor, ulceration, and number and status of regional lymphatic nodes. For incidence and mortalty, a decrease in young but an increase in older roups—with geographic differences—has been reported. Because of the embryologic origin of melanocytes in the neural crest, MM cannot arise from bone cells. If a MM affects the bone, a primary invasion by local spread or a distant metastasis has to be taken into account. Bones that are frequently involved with metastatic disease are vertebrae, ribs, pelvis, and skull. A etastasis from distant primary tumors to the jaws as been considered a rare disease. It has been shown that about 4% of tumors metastasizing to the jaws are MMs, whereas metastasis of a MM to other bones is found more often. Metastasis of a cutaneus MM to the oral cavity is a very rare incident. In ases of metastasis, the mandible is affected most requently. Radiologically, most lesions appear as os-