Case Report
Primary pulmonary malignant melanoma: a clinicopathologic study of two cases
1 The Helmholtz Sino-German Laboratory for Cancer Research, Department of Pathology, Tangdu Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, 710038, P.R China
2 Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Tangdu Hospital, the Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, 710038, P.R China
3 Department of Pathology, Tangdu Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an, 710038, P.R China
Diagnostic Pathology 2012, 7:123 doi:10.1186/1746-1596-7-123
Published: 19 September 2012Abstract
Malignant melanoma involving the respiratory tract is nearly always metastatic in origin, and primary tumors are very rare. To our knowledge, about 30 cases have been reported in the English literature, one of which involved multiple brain metastases. Here, we report two cases of primary pulmonary malignant melanoma. The first case, which occurred in a 52-year-old Chinese female patient who died 4 months after the initial diagnosis, involved rapid intrapulmonary and intracranial metastases. The second patient, a 65-year-old female, underwent surgical excision, and clinical examination, histopathological characteristics, and immunohistochemical features supported the diagnosis of pulmonary malignant melanoma. No evidence for recurrence and/or metastasis has been found more than one year after the initial surgery. To establish the diagnosis of primary pulmonary malignant melanoma, any extrapulmonary origin must be excluded by detailed examination. Moreover, the tumor should be removed surgically whether it occurs as a single lesion or multiple lesions.
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