title: Malignant melanoma of the chest wall with an unknown primary lesion.
abstract: We report herein the case of a 66-year-old man who underwent resection and reconstruction of the chest wall due to the presence of a malignant melanoma without a detectable primary lesion. The patient was discharged in good condition after receiving chemotherapy but eventually died of multiple bone metastases 2 years after surgery. Throughout the postoperative course, there were no specific symptoms or findings suggesting the presence of a primary lesion. It was considered likely that the primary tumor was resolved by spontaneous regression after chest wall metastasis had been established.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Surgery, Kagoshima University, Faculty of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yotsumoto
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shimokawa
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamaoka
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsushita
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taira
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D009382:Neoplasms, Unknown Primary; D013899:Thoracic Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery