title: Premalignant melanocytic dysplasia and malignant melanoma of the oral mucosa.
abstract: Although malignant melanoma of the oral cavity frequently arises in pre-existing melanosis of the oral mucosa, little is known about oral melanoma precursor lesions. We reviewed three patients with premalignant melanocytic dysplasia and 14 with malignant melanoma of the oral mucosa. Thirteen of the 14 malignant melanoma cases had radial growth phases similar to those of acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) of the skin. The prognosis of oral melanoma was not poor in contrast to that of cutaneous melanoma. Premalignant melanocytic dysplasia of the oral mucosa showed lentiginous or pagetoid proliferation of atypical melanocytes in the lower epithelium in the central part of the lesion, and lentiginous proliferation of dendritic melanocytes or simple hyperpigmentation in the basal cell layer in the peripheral part. These findings were similar to those of the radial growth phase of ALM of the oral mucosa.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, 7-5-1 Kusunoki-Cho, Chuo-Ku, Kobe 650-0017, Japan. ume@med.kobe-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Umeda
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Komatsubara
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shibuya
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yokoo
authors.forename: Takahide
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Komori
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000473:pathology; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000473:pathology*; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000473:pathology*