[Mucous membrane melanomas of the upper aerodigestive tract. An analysis of 34 cases].

Background: Malignant mucosal melanoma of the upper aerodigestive tract is a rare disease. The prognosis is expected to be significantly worse than the prognosis of cutaneous melanoma and so far no uniform therapeutic concept exists. Publications about mucosal melanoma are scarce and reported patient groups are usually small.

Patients: Thirty-four patients have been registered at the ENT Department of the University of Kiel Medical Center with the diagnosis mentioned above. Clinical data were obtained from the patient's charts, the minimum follow-up was three years.

Results: Most common site of the tumor was the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses with 28 of 34 patients. Less frequently affected was the nasopharynx (three cases), oropharynx, larynx, and middle ear (one case each). All patients were caucasians and most of them were of an advanced age (66.9 years +/- 12.3). Treatment of choice was surgical resection in 27 cases, in four cases it was combined with radiation therapy, in one case with radiation therapy and chemotherapy, and in three cases with chemotherapy. Six patients received solely radiation therapy, one patient was only treated by chemotherapy. Patients who were treated by a combined approach had a more favourable outcome than patients who were treated by a monotherapy of surgery, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy. A high number of recurrences were observed, which occurred on an average of 16.6 months after the diagnosis of the primary tumor. Overall 5-year survival was 45.8%, the 10-year survival rate was 22.3%.

Conclusions: Optimized combined therapeutical approaches might possibly improve the prognosis of mucosal melanoma of the upper aerodigestive tract. Intervals between follow-ups should be short to render detection of relapses at an early stage. Repeated therapy of recurrent disease might lengthen survival.