title: Primary gastric melanoma: a case report.
abstract: Melanoma accounts for 1-3 per cent of all malignant tumors. Except cutaneous, other less common melanomas include, among others, those in the GI tract. However, their primary or secondary nature is often difficult to establish. Referring to the stomach, scattered cases of primary melanomas have been reported in the literature. We report a case of a man with an ulcerated sub-mucosal mass at the antrum of the stomach, manifested with dull upper abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and anemia. This lesion was histologically proved to be melanoma. A detailed clinical and laboratory investigation revealed no primary site elsewhere. To our knowledge, very few cases of primary gastric melanoma have been reported. Our case is the fourth ever published and the first located at the antrum of the stomach. The debate upon the primitive nature of such lesions still persists. Thus, specific diagnostic criteria have been proposed.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Propaedeutic Surgery, Hippocrateion Hospital, Athens Medical School, Athens 11527, Greece.
authors.forename: Emmanuel-Eustathios
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Lagoudianakis
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Genetzakis
authors.forename: Dimitrios-Konstantinos
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Tsekouras
authors.forename: Artemisia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Papadima
authors.forename: Georgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kafiri
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Toutouzas
authors.forename: Vaggelogiannis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Katergiannakis
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manouras
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000209:etiology; D000740:Anemia / Q000209:etiology; D005221:Fatigue; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009325:Nausea / Q000209:etiology; D011379:Prognosis; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D014839:Vomiting / Q000209:etiology