title: A case of pedunculated malignant melanoma of the vaginal mucosa.
abstract: We report an 84-year-old Japanese woman who presented with a pedunculated malignant melanoma of the vaginal mucosa. Mucosal melanoma is believed to be more common in Japan than other countries, but such tumors of the vulvovaginal region are quite unusual. In our patient, three tumors were connected by a narrow pedicle. Three black tumors measuring 5-10 mm in diameter with a common pedicle were seen on the vaginal mucosa at five o'clock from the cervix. The tumors were hanging from the narrow pedicle. On histologic examination, they were diagnosed as malignant melanoma. Resection was done with a distal margin of 3 cm from the tumors and a margin of 1 cm from the cervix. The patient has had no evidence of local recurrence or distant metastasis. In our patient, the three main tumors had a common pedicle, which seems to be a unique finding. Since pedunculated malignant melanomas are rare, making a clinical diagnosis is difficult. Although pedunculated melanomas are recognized as having a high malignant potential because these lesions are generally thick, a relatively good outcome is sometimes reported. In our patient, there was no tumor infiltration into the dermis of the pedicle, and this may be one reason for the good outcome at present. There has been no previous report of a mucosal melanoma consisting of three tumors like those in the present patient.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Hakodate Central General Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Furuya
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D009092:Mucous Membrane / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D014625:Vaginal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*