title: Primary cerebellopontine angle melanoma: a case report and review.
abstract: Primary melanomas at the cerebellopontine (CP) angle are extremely rare and     considered a diagnostic dilemma. With only 16 prior cases reported so far, there     is not enough material in world literature. We report a 29-year-old male who     presented with vertigo, headache and features of lower cranial nerve involvement     with MRI revealing a melanotic lesion at CP angle. The patient underwent right     suboccipital craniectomy and only subtotal excision of the tumor was possible.     Histopathologically it turned out to be malignant melanoma. Since a thorough     search for any possible primary was futile, it was considered a primary     melanoma. Patient was given adjuvant radiotherapy. Ten months later, he     presented with weakness and multiple spinal metastases and two months later he     succumbed to his disease. We did a comprehensive review of literature about     various melanocytic tumors at the CP angle. Pathologically, melanocytic tumors     range from benign melanocytomas to malignant melanoma with variable prognosis.     The clinical presentation depends upon whether the lesions are diffuse or     discrete. Surgery is the primary modality of treatment and the amount of tumor     excised is related to the prognosis. We conclude the discussion with a novel     classification for melanotic tumors of CNS and the current diagnostic pathway     for a melanotic lesion at the CP angle.
authors: Calicut Medical College, Department of General Surgery, Calicut, India. lax321@gmail.com
authors: Laxminarayan
authors: L
authors: Bhandari
authors: Jacob
authors: J
authors: Alapatt
authors: Aparna
authors: A
authors: Govindan
authors: Thevar
authors: T
authors: Sreekumar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002528:Cerebellar Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery*; D002530:Cerebellopontine Angle / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008543:Melanins; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery*; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D013120:Spinal Cord Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D008543:Melanins