%0 Journal Article
%T Malignant melanoma of the stomach presenting in a woman: a case report
%A Vedat Goral
%A Feyzullah Ucmak
%A Serdar Yildirim
%A Sezgin Barutcu
%A Serdar £żleri
%A £żlknur Aslan
%A Huseyin Buyukbayram
%J Journal of Medical Case Reports
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1752-1947-5-94
%X In this case report the clinical course and treatment of a woman with melanoma of the stomach, without any other detectable primary lesion, is presented and discussed. A 55-year-old Turkish woman presented to our clinic with complaints of muscle pain and bone pain in the left side of her chest. During an upper gastrointestinal system endoscopy, dark cherry-colored, light elevated, round-shaped lesions were taken from her gastric fundus and from the first part of her duodenum. Biopsies from these samples were determined to be malignant melanoma by the pathologist.Metastatic malignant melanoma cases should be examined through endoscopy for gastrointestinal metastases.Malignant melanoma is reported to metastasize to all organs of the human body [1-4]. Although it is common for it to metastasize to the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), a melanoma located primarily in the gastric mucosa is an uncommon tumor [5,6]. Gastrointestinal metastases are rarely diagnosed before death, using radiological and endoscopic techniques [7-9]. Also, GIT metastases can appear in various morphological forms, and therefore immunohistochemistry is often useful in distinguishing between a malignant melanoma and other malignancies. The median survival time for melanoma patients presenting with gastrointestinal invasion is less than one year [2]. The prolonged survival time reported in a few patients with gastrointestinal metastases is associated with aggressive surgical treatment, adjuvant chemotherapy and immunotherapy. The high mortality rate observed in these patients is associated with multiple metastases to other organs, such as lungs, liver, pancreas, spleen, endocrine glands, and brain [6]. In this case report, the clinical course and treatment of a woman with melanoma of the stomach, without any other detectable primary lesion, is presented and discussed.A 55-year-old Turkish woman presented to our clinic with complaints of muscle pain and bone pain in the left side of her chest. She had a
%U http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/content/5/1/94