title: Primary Gingival Melanoma: An Important Entity.
abstract: Primary melanoma of the mandibular gingiva is extremely rare. It is often misinterpreted as a benign pigmented process. The prognosis of this entity is very poor. We report here the first case of primary gingival melanoma described in the Tunisian literature about a 55-year-old smoker having cerebral and pulmonary metastases from gingival melanoma at diagnosis. Our patient underwent brain radiotherapy at a dose of 18 Gy in three sessions but he died with a decline of 3 months before starting systemic therapy. Therefore, each new case should be illustrated to make clinicians aware about the importance of the early diagnosis to improve the poor diagnosis of this entity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Habib Bourguiba Hospital, Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Wala
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ben Kridis
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Habib Bourguiba Hospital, Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Jihène
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Feki
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Habib Bourguiba Hospital, Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Lobna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ayedi
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Habib Bourguiba Hospital, Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Afef
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khanfir
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Habib Bourguiba Hospital, Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Nabil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Toumi
authors.affiliation: Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, Habib Bourguiba Hospital, Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abdelmoula
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Habib Bourguiba Hospital, Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Tahia
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Boudawra
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Habib Bourguiba Hospital, Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Jamel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Daoud
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Habib Bourguiba Hospital, Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Mounir
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frikha
keywords: Diagnosis; Primary gingival melanoma; Prognosis; Treatment