Primary amelanotic malignant melanoma of the oesophagus--a case report.

Primary malignant melanoma of the esophagus is an extremely rare disease with non-specific clinical presentations and radiological findings. We are presenting a case of 40 years old female admitted to the hospital complaining of dysphasia and weight loss. Esophagoscopy revealed an irregular fungating mass at the lower one third of the esophagus. The tumor was diagnosed provisionally as poorly differentiated carcinoma and was radically removed. The positive imumnohistochemical reactivity of tumor cells to melanoma markers and the detection of melanosomes and premelanosomes on ultrastructural level confirmed the diagnosis of amelanotic melanoma of esophagus. The identification of melanocytosis, foci of melanoma in situ and junctional activity in squamous epithelium along with absence of any cutaneous or ocular pigmented lesions proved the primary nature of the tumor . The aim of the current work is to report this rare tumor entity and to analyze the clinicopathological, immunohistological, and ultrastructural characteristics this rare tumor entity and compare our results with those in the literature to contribute to a better understanding of the disease. In conclusion, we contribute to the cumulative data in the literature with a case report of primary amelanotic melanoma of esophagus, a rare and aggressive tumor entity with controversial histogenesis that should be considered in the differential diagnosis of primary squamous and glandular carcinoma of the esophagus. Primary mucosal melanoma should be distinguished from metastatic malignant melanoma since it has a better prognosis. [Ayman Ghanim,Eman Emam, Ahmad Ghanim Ghadeer Mokhtar, Swasan Jalalah and Shadi Al Ahmadi. Primary Amelanotic Malignant Melanoma of the Esophagus: A Case Report. Life Sci J 2013;10(2):1844-1849]. (ISSN: 1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 259