Colon Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Colon Cancer, including details on causes, treatment, symptoms.

Primary malignant melanoma of the transverse colon: report of a case and review of the literature.

Kenney B, Dotto J, Homer R, Shafi N, Davydova L

Department of Pathology, Yale University School of Medicine, 20 York Street, New Haven, CT 06520-8023, USA. barton.kenney@yale.edu

Gastrointestinal involvement by malignant melanoma is predominantly a metastatic phenomenon. Although primary malignant melanoma of the gastrointestinal tract has been documented in the esophagus, stomach, small bowel, and anorectum, the incidence of primary melanoma of the colon is rare and remains controversial in most cases. We present a case of solitary malignant melanoma of the transverse colon occurring in a 64-year-old African American male patient. Complete dermatologic and ophthalmologic examinations revealed no evidence of a cutaneous or an ocular primary lesion. Microscopic examination of the resection specimen revealed malignant melanoma, which was confirmed by immunohistochemical positivity for S100 and melan-A. We believe that this tumor represents a primary colonic malignant melanoma.

Published 4 October 2007 in Int J Surg Pathol, 15(4): 401-7.
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