title: Cytology of primary vaginal melanoma: An unusual report on fine needle aspiration.
abstract: Primary malignant melanoma of the vagina is an extremely uncommon malignancy comprising of less than 10% malignancies of the female genital tract and 0.3% of all melanomas. Melanoblasts are neural crest derivatives and are notorious for causing primary cutaneous neoplasms. However, they involve virtually every organ of the body including eye, intestines and ocular mucosa, probably due to aberrancies in cell migration. Vagina is a rare site and primary melanoma of the vagina occurs in postmenopausal women with vaginal discharge, bleeding, or mass as common presenting complaints. Only a handful of case reports are available describing this entity on biopsy and PAP smear samples; however, fine needle aspiration has seldom been discussed. In the present report we discuss a case of an elderly female who complained of mass protruding through the vaginal opening, FNAC was done from the mass as well as from the right inguinal lymph node. An extensive clinicoradiological workup, and immunohistochemical confirmation is essential to rule out metastatic lesions and confirm primary. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2017;45:252-256. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, PGIMER, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Poojan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, PGIMER, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Manju
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaushal
mesh_terms: D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D014621:Vagina / Q000473:pathology*; D014625:Vaginal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*
keywords: melan-A; melanoma; vagina