title: Round Cell Vaginal Malignant Melanoma: A rare entity.
abstract: Malignant melanoma is predominantly a skin disease but in rare instances it may occur at other sites. A vaginal melanoma is a rare clinical entity and the round cell type is an uncommon variant. Although the present case was clinically diagnosed as a urethral caruncle, on histopathological examination and immunostaining it was diagnosed as a round cell pigmented malignant melanoma. The patient refused radical surgery and was given a full course radiotherapy treatment but died a year later. Malignant vaginal melanoma carries a very poor prognosis even when lesion is localised at the time of presentation. The five-year survival rate ranges from 10-20% with the prognosis being influenced by tumour size. A tumour size ≥3cm has a poor prognosis. Age, mitotic count, stage, and location of the lesion do not influence survival rates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Jolly Grant, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
authors.forename: Neena
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chauhan
authors.forename: Dushyant S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Gaur
authors.forename: Ved P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Pathak
keywords: Case report; Fontana-Masson stain; Immunohistochemical staining; India; Malignancy; Melanoma; Round cell tumors; Vagina