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Primary malignant melanoma Urethra, male Urinary cytology Abstract We report a case of primary malignant melanoma of the male urethra, increasing the total number of reported cases to 31. The experience with our case suggests that urinary cytology is a diagnostic method for malignant melanoma and essential in the preoperative diagnosis of this disease. Nobumasa Fujimoto, MD, Department of Urology, Hyogo Prefectural Nishinomiya Hospital, Rokutanji-cho 13-9, Nishinomiya, Hyogo-ken 662 (Japan) Primary malignant melanoma of the male urethra is a rare disease, with only 30 cases previously reported in the literature [1–7]. We report a new case of male ure-thral melanoma. Case Report A 68-year-old Japanese male was seen in February 1985 with complaints of urethral bleeding for the last 2 months and dysuria of recent onset. A palpable mass was noted in the area of the pendulous urethra. The inguinal lymph nodes were not enlarged on palpation. There was no evidence of nevi or other cutaneous lesions. Laboratory findings were normal except that urinary cytology was positive for malignancy, initially suspected to be a transitional cell carcinoma. Urethrocystogram showed a filling defect in the proximal pendulous urethra and cystourethroscopy revealed a black nodular lesion. The bladder mucosa was unremarkable. Metastatic evaluation, including physical examination, chest X-ray, excretory uro-gram and abdominal computerized tomography scan, was negative. Partial urethrectomy and construction of suprapubic cystostomy were performed. The resected specimen showed an irregular black tumor with nodular formation, and several submucosal satellite lesions (fig. 1). Histological examination confirmed malignant melanoma (fig. 2). Polygonal cells, containing large nucleoli and heavy accumulation of