title: Primary malignant melanoma of vagina--a case report with review of literature.
abstract: Primary vaginal malignant melanoma is a very rare tumor with less than 300 cases reported to date. We describe a case of primary vaginal melanoma and review the literature. A 60 years postmenopausal female patient presented with painless mass coming out of the vagina with occasional bleeding for last 2-3 weeks. On vaginal examination there was a firm polypoidal growth of size 7 cm attached to the right lateral wall of vagina and coming out of the introitus. Histopathology of the mass showed features of malignant melanoma. Wide local excision was done and adjuvant therapy was given. However patient came back after three months with widespread metastasis and expired 6 months after the initial diagnosis. Vaginal melanoma is a very aggressive tumor and the overall prognosis is very poor despite the treatment modality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Pokhara, Nepal. drghosharnab@yahoo.com
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pradhan
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Swami
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Kc
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Talwar
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy / Q000379:methods; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D014625:Vaginal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy