Melanoma of the small bowel: primary or metastatic? a clinical case

• Autor(a) principal: Póvoa, Antonia A.
• Data de Publicação: 2008
• Outros Autores: Furtado, Antónia M., Soares, Carlos, Vasconcelos, Eduardo, Nogueira, Rosete, Gandra, Lurdes T., Maciel, Jorge
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://revista.spcir.com/index.php/spcir/article/view/242

Malignant melanoma often originated from melanocytes can occur wherever these cells are present. Most common locations are the skin, retina, anus and under the nail. Although rare, primary gastrointestinal tract melanoma has been reported, mostly from the oesophagus and anorectal region. In the small bowel represents 5% of primary neoplasms. We report a case of a 70 year old man, who presented with abdominal pain, weigh loss and anaemia. Based on the findings of CT, endoscopy and entheroscopy a preoperative diagnosis of a small bowel tumour was established. Was submitted to a multiple segmental enterectomy, the histopathological examination revealed a malignant melanoma. A thorough postoperative investigation did not reveal a primary lesion in the skin, oculus or any other location. Brain and pulmonary metastasis where diagnosed afterwards and he died three months after surgery. In a patient without any obvious primary tumour, with a gastrointestinal melanoma and without extraintestinal lesions we should rule out primary gastrointestinal melanoma. Keywords: Malignant melanoma, small bowel, gastrointestinal tract.