Contemporary Treatment Approaches to Sinonasal Mucosal Melanoma.

Curr Oncol Rep

Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Unit 1445, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd., Houston, TX, 77030, USA.

Published: February 2018

AI Article Synopsis

  • Sinonasal mucosal melanoma (SNMM) is a rare type of cancer primarily affecting the head and neck, distinct from skin melanoma due to its unique genetic profile.
  • Patients with SNMM generally have poor survival rates, and while wide surgical excision is the main treatment, radiation therapy is also commonly used after surgery to help control the disease.
  • There is minimal benefit from systemic therapies, and most patients succumb to metastatic disease; research on SNMM treatment is limited, often consisting of case reports or small studies.

Article Abstract

Sinonasal mucosal melanoma (SNMM) is a rare oncological entity that comprises most head and neck mucosal melanomas. SNMM has distinctive genetic background, different from cutaneous melanoma. Survival outcomes among SNMM patients are poor; while there is no clear consensus on the optimal management of SNMM, the primary treatment modality is generally considered to be wide surgical excision, and radiation therapy (RT) is often used in the postoperative adjuvant setting to improve locoregional control. Systemic therapies have demonstrated little or no survival benefit, and most SNMM patients die of distant metastatic disease. Owing to the rarity of the disease, the literature describing treatment approaches for SNMM is lacking and largely limited to isolated case reports and retrospective series. Here, we describe contemporary diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to SNMM based on the most recent molecular and outcome data.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11912-018-0660-7DOI Listing

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