title: Central nervous system as exclusive site of disease in patients with melanoma: treatment and clinical outcome of two cases.
abstract: The central nervous system (CNS) is a favourite site of metastasis in advanced melanoma and, despite the improvement obtained in the control of brain metastasis, most patients die as a result of extracranial progression of the disease. CNS primary malignant melanoma is a rare entity and the diagnosis is generally made after the exclusion of a primary cutaneous or mucosal/retinal malignant melanoma, as differential histological diagnosis between primary and metastatic origins is often difficult. From a review of the literature, patients with primary brain melanoma or exclusive (and limited) brain metastasis in the absence of extracranial melanoma present a relatively good prognosis if adequately treated with aggressive locoregional treatments (neurosurgery and/or radiotherapy) and, later, with drugs able to cross the blood-brain barrier (i.e. fotemustine). In this letter, we describe the history, treatment and favourable clinical outcome of two patients with melanoma and CNS as the exclusive site of disease.
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ferraresi
authors.forename: Mariangela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ciccarese
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zeuli
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cognetti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy*; D011379:Prognosis; D016896:Treatment Outcome