Oral malignant melanoma: A review of the literature

Mucosal malignant melanomas in head and neck surgery: a retrospective study of six patients and review of the literature

“…Chang et al [1] reported a 5-year disease-specific survival for OMM of 31.7%. Meleti et al [7] reported a 5-year survival of only 15%.…”

“…Oral malignant melanomas are not very radiosensitive, but postoperative radiotherapy is generally recommended in multiple positive nodes, in extranodal spread, and in poor prognostic pathologic features [7,23].…”

“…For mucosal melanomas, distribution on the head and neck occurs in 55.4% of cases, followed by anal/rectal (23.8%), female genital tract (18%), and urinary tract sites (2.8%) [1]. The most frequently affected sites in the oral cavity are the maxillary gingival and the palate [5,6], and they are more commonly affected in Japan and Africa than in Western countries [2,7,8]. The development of oral malignant melanomas (OMM) and the function of melanocytes in the oral mucosa have still not been clearly identified.…”

Malignant melanoma of the mandibular gingiva

“…[1] Primary malignant melanoma seldom involves the oral cavity. [2] Oral malignant melanoma (OMM) accounts for <1% of all oral malignancies.…”

“…The tumor usually affects individuals beyond their second decade of life. [1,2] It can be easily diagnosed clinically as it usually presents as a pigmented growth with irregular outline. However, malignant melanoma can be ominously asymptomatic and be noticed by the patient at a late stage when there is bleeding and mobility of associated teeth.…”