Neurotropic melanoma of the face invading the maxillary nerve.
Neurotropic melanoma is a variant of desmoplastic melanoma which, in addition to a spindle-cell vertical component and fibrosis, exhibits a fascicular growth pattern and invades cutaneous nerves. Here we describe a neurotropic melanoma which arose in a small lentigo maligna melanoma and invaded the maxillary nerve for a distance of 5 cm. Ultrastructural features were similar to those of previously described neurotropic melanomas and tumor fascicles contained S-100 protein and neuron-specific enolase immunoreactivity.
D005153:Facial Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008442:Maxillary Nerve / Q000473:pathology*; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008875:Middle Aged; D009423:Nervous System Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary* / Q000648:ultrastructure