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Review
. 2016 Jan;38(1):147-55.
doi: 10.1002/hed.23872. Epub 2015 May 22.

Update on primary head and neck mucosal melanoma

Fernando López  1   2 , Juan P Rodrigo  1   2 , Antonio Cardesa  3 , Asterios Triantafyllou  4 , Kenneth O Devaney  5 , William M Mendenhall  6 , Missak Haigentz Jr  7 , Primož Strojan  8 , Phillip K Pellitteri  9 , Carol R Bradford  10 , Ashok R Shaha  11 , Jennifer L Hunt  12 , Remco de Bree  13 , Robert P Takes  14 , Alessandra Rinaldo  15 , Alfio Ferlito  15
Affiliations
Review

Update on primary head and neck mucosal melanoma

Fernando López et al. Head Neck. 2016 Jan.

Abstract

Primary mucosal melanomas (PMMs) of the head and neck are uncommon malignancies that arise mainly in the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses, followed by the oral cavity. The mainstay of treatment is radical surgical resection followed by adjuvant radiotherapy in selected patients with high-risk features. Multimodality therapy has not been well studied and is not standardized. Adjuvant radiotherapy seems to improve locoregional control but does not improve overall survival (OS). Elective neck dissection is advocated in patients with oral PMM. Systemic therapy should be considered only for patients with metastatic or unresectable locoregional disease. Despite improvements in the field of surgery, radiotherapy, and systemic therapy, patients with PMM still face a very unfavorable prognosis (5-year disease-free survival [DFS] <20%) with high rates of locoregional recurrence and distant metastasis. The present review aims to summarize the current state of knowledge on the molecular biology, pathological diagnosis, and management of this disease.

Keywords: chemotherapy; diagnosis; head and neck; mucosal melanoma; outcomes; radiotherapy; staging system; surgery.

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