title: Malignant melanoma with liver and spleen metastases: case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The diagnosis of primary melanoma is easily confirmed after histological analysis of the lesion, whereas it is rarely diagnosed when the patient even has distant metastases.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case report
  
  
  METHODS
  Malignant melanoma is responsible for about 1% of all deaths caused by cancer in the USA and only 3% of all malignant skin diseases. Malignant melanoma is a rare disease, although it corresponds to 65% of all deaths caused by skin cancer. The liver and spleen are rarely the first sites of melanoma metastases. This paper reports on the clinical picture of a patient with fatal malignant melanoma and hepatic and spleen metastases. As this was an un-usual presentation, the melanoma diagnosis could only be made after pathological analysis of the skin and hepatic lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Ornellas
authors.forename: V P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Lanzoni
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Toledo
mesh_terms: D004428:Ear Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D004431:Ear, External; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary*; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000097:blood / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary*; D008875:Middle Aged; D013160:Splenic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000556:secondary*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed