title: Primary malignant melanoma of the stomach: report of a case.
abstract: We report a case of primary malignant melanoma (MM) of the stomach. The patient, a 73-year-old man, was referred to our hospital for investigation of an elevated lesion in the stomach, detected by gastroscopy. On admission, physical examinations and laboratory data were unremarkable. Gastroscopy revealed a pigmented, elevated tumor, approximately 2 cm in diameter, in the posterior wall of the stomach. A biopsy was taken, which resulted in a diagnosis of MM, based on the presence of melanin in tumor cells. F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography showed no accumulation of tracer except for the tumor in the stomach, indicating that it was a primary MM of the stomach. The patient underwent distal gastrectomy, but died of recurrence 1 year later. Very few cases of primary MM of the stomach have been reported. Thus, we report this case, followed by a review of the literature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagoya National Hospital, 4-1-1 Sannomaru, Naka-ku, Nagoya, 460-0001, Japan. kazuo-y@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamamura
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: Suzuko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moritani
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D018450:Disease Progression; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005743:Gastrectomy; D005773:Gastroscopy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery