Summary and Conclusions
Anorectal melanoma is a relatively rare condition. In all, a little over 100 cases have been reported in medical literature.
The author’s case is of special interest because the patient survived 70 months following radical abdominoperineal resection. Generalized metastases were present in this case as in all other reported fatal cases.
Pigmented lesions of the anal canal should arouse suspicion of a melanoma. Biopsy should be done only with the cold knife. The importance of routine pathologic study of all anorectal tissue removed at operations cannot be overemphasized. The proper treatment of anorectal melanoma is radical abdominoperineal resection. Prophylactic ilioinguinal node dissection bilaterally or aorto-ilio-pelvic node dissection still remain equivocal procedures.
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References
Braastat, F. W., M. B. Dockerty and C. F. Dixon: Melano-epithelioma of anus and rectum: Report of cases and review of literature. Surgery.25: 82, 1949.
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Probstein, J. G.: Malignant melanoma of the anorectum: Report of a case without recurrence forty-three months following only local excision. A.M.A. Arch. Surg.75: 253, 1957.
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Read at the meeting of the Pennsylvania Proctologic Society, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 19, 1959.
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Berkley, J.L. Melanoma of the anal canal. Dis Colon Rectum 3, 159–160 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02616549
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02616549