OBJECTIVE

This is a case report of a 60-year-old woman with a juxtapapillary choroidal melanoma who underwent globe-sparing treatment using linear-accelerator (LINAC)-based hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (FSRT).

Clinical data, ophthalmologic findings, and imaging results were obtained through retrospective chart review.

At three months and nine months post-treatment, tumor thickness decreased by 20.5% (from 13.00 mm to 10.34 mm) and 33.2% (to 8.69 mm), respectively. Partial resolution of subretinal fluid and vitreous hemorrhage was confirmed clinically and by B-scan. No metastatic spread was detected on liver ultrasound and chest radiography. Best-corrected visual acuity in the treated eye remained stable at hand motion. Radiation-induced dry eye was managed effectively with preservative-free sodium hyaluronate eye drops.

LINAC-based hypofractionated FSRT achieved marked local control and tumor regression in this case of a medium-large, juxtapapillary choroidal melanoma, while preserving the globe and the baseline vision. In regions without access to plaque brachytherapy, this technique offers a practical, cost-efficient, and multidisciplinary approach to eye-conserving therapy.

This is a case of malignant melanoma with rhabdomyosarcomatous differentiation presenting as a conjunctival mass in a 50-year-old male. Melanoma cells were seen to react with desmin, myogenin and vimentin, indicating rhabdomyosarcomatous differentiation. This condition is very rare, with less than twenty cases reported in the literature, which contributes to the limitations in molecular characterization and standard treatment protocols for this entity. This condition has an aggressive course with a poor prognosis.

Although melanoma only accounts for 1% of skin cancers, it is responsible for most skin cancer deaths. Glioblastoma multiforme, a high-grade astrocytoma, is the most aggressive and devastating primary brain tumor. These two diseases remain to be the biggest therapeutic challenge in both specialties of dermatology and neuro-oncology. A 53-year-old Filipino male who presented with a 2-year history of generalized dark brown and black patches on the body developed weakness and numbness of the left extremities. Biopsy and immunohistochemical staining of the skin revealed nodular melanoma with adjacent regressing melanoma. Biopsy of the intracranial mass showed glioblastoma multiforme. One month after the partial excision of the intracranial mass, the patient expired due to brain herniation. Nodular melanoma and glioblastoma multiforme may occur concomitantly in a patient. A review of the literature suggests a shared genetic predisposition. Its existence carries a poor prognosis and requires early detection to start aggressive treatment.
Melanoma ; Glioma ; Glioblastoma ; Association

A 53-year-old female presented with a 2-year history of an enlarging hyperpigmented plaque on her left foot, which was later accompanied by yellowish, foul-smelling discharge, tenderness, and pain (5/10). A biopsy in Thailand confirmed acral lentiginous melanoma. Following surgical site dehiscence and lesion recurrence, she underwent further examination at Southern Philippines Medical Center. A skin punch biopsy revealed atypical melanocytes, leading to Mohs micrographic surgery. After confirming negative tumor margins, a successful skin punch graft was performed, resulting in full wound healing with no recurrence.

Acral lentiginous melanoma, though rare, is most common in Asians and often presents in areas like the soles, palms, and subungual regions. Mohs micrographic surgery, offering precise margin control, ensures cure rates comparable to traditional excision while sparing more tissue, crucial for areas like the foot. Skin punch grafting, in this case, provided faster wound healing and a high graft survival rate, highlighting its effectiveness in dermatologic surgery.

In conclusion, acral lentiginous melanoma’s subtle presentation often delays diagnosis, but combining Mohs surgery with skin punch grafting offers significant therapeutic benefits—ensuring tissue preservation, faster recovery, and improved graft outcomes.

INTRODUCTION

Malignant melanoma is most commonly found on the skin and rarely occurs in the rectal region. This case illustrates that rectal melanoma can be misdiagnosed as hemorrhoids. It also aims to add knowledge to possible treatment options for rectal melanoma.

We report a case of a 77-year-old Filipino adult presenting with rectal bleeding for three weeks. He underwent sigmoidoscopy that showed thrombosed hemorrhoids; however, subsequent surgical excision biopsy histopathology and immunohistochemistry revealed features compatible with malignant melanoma (HMB45, Melan A, and Cytokeratin positive; CDX2 negative). Staging workup done, including abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with IV contrast and chest computed tomography (CT), showed distant metastases. He was then started on pembrolizumab but follow up imaging showed recurrence of the rectal melanoma and progression of metastases. Molecular testing done revealed c KIT/ CD117 positive results, hence, treatment was shifted to imatinib.

It was seen that rectal melanoma is an aggressive disease; therefore, multidisciplinary management is crucial to yield the best possible outcome, despite its poor prognosis. Such as in this case, using immunotherapy (Pembrolizumab) and targeted therapy (Imatinib) still have inconsistent outcomes, thus, further studies should be pursued. In this patient, both pembrolizumab and imatinib post-surgery resulted to recurrence of the rectal tumor and progression of hepatic and osseous metastases.

Objectives: To discuss a case of primary melanoma of the palatine tonsil in a 57-year-old man presented with a dark, pigmented tonsillar mass initially managed as a case of arterio-venous malformation, and review the literature on its presentation, diagnosis, management and outcomes. : Methods Design: Case Report Setting: Tertiary Government Training Hospital Patient: One Results: A 57-year-old man presented with a pigmented, bluish-black mass (7.2 cm) on the right tonsillar area with dysphagia and odynophagia. A CT scan interpretation considered large tonsillar malignancy, right with infiltrations of the soft palate, lingual tonsils and pre-epiglottic space. The initial impression was an arteriovenous malformation and preoperative arterial embolization was followed by a tonsillectomy. The final biopsy result was mucosal melanoma. Refusing further treatment, he expired nine months later in the emergency room, after presenting with decreasing sensorium and desaturations, jaundice and abdominal distension. Conclusion To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of tonsillar melanoma in the Philippines. Primary tonsillar melanoma is rare but its diagnosis is still possible (although it is usually diagnosed in advanced stages). Despite improvement in surgical techniques and adjuvant therapies, its prognosis remains poor. Regular oral cavity screening may help in early detection.
Palatine Tonsil ; Melanoma

Humans ; Melanoma/therapy* ; Skin Neoplasms/therapy* ; Methylation ; Prognosis ; Immunotherapy ; RNA ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; Melanoma, Cutaneous Malignant

Melanoma accounts for a small proportion of skin cancers diagnosed each year, but it has a high degree of malignancy and rapid progression, resulting in a short survival period for patients. The incidence of melanoma continues to rise, and now melanoma accounts for 1.7% of cancer diagnoses worldwide and is the fifth most common cancer in the United States. With the development of high-throughput sequencing technologies, the understanding of the pathophysiology of melanoma had also been improved. The most common activating mutations in melanoma cells are BRAF , NRAS , and KIT mutations, which disrupt cell signaling pathways related to tumor proliferation. The progress has led to the emergence of molecularly targeted drugs, which extends the survival of patients with advanced melanoma. A large number of clinical trials have been conducted to confirm that targeted therapy for patients with advanced melanoma can improve progression-free survival and overall survival, and for stage III patients after radical tumor resection targeted therapy can reduce the recurrence of melanoma. Patients who were originally stage III or IV inoperable have the opportunity to achieve tumor radical resection after targeted therapy. This article reviewed the clinical trial data and summarized the clinical benefits and limitations of these therapies.
Humans ; United States ; Melanoma/genetics* ; Skin Neoplasms/pathology* ; Mutation ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf/therapeutic use*

This study aimed to explore the effect and mechanism of acetylalkannin from Arnebia euchroma on the proliferation, migration, and invasion of human melanoma A375 cells. A375 cells were divided into a blank group, and low-, medium-, and high-dose acetylalkannin groups(0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 μmol·L~(-1)). The MTT assay was used to detect cell proliferation. Cell scratch and transwell migration assays were used to detect cell migration ability, and the transwell invasion assay was used to detect cell invasion ability. Western blot was used to detect the protein expression of migration and invasion-related N-cadherin, vimentin, matrix metalloproteina-se-9(MMP-9), and Wnt/β-catenin pathway-related Wnt1, Axin2, glycogen synthase kinase-3β(GSK-3β), phosphorylated GSK-3β(p-GSK-3β), β-catenin, cell cycle protein D_1(cyclin D_1), and p21. Real-time fluorescence-based quantitative polymerase chain reaction(real-time PCR) was used to detect the mRNA expression of E-cadherin, matrix metalloproteinase-2(MMP-2), N-cadherin, vimentin, β-catenin, snail-1, and CD44. MTT results showed that the cell inhibition rates in the acetylalkannin groups significantly increased as compared with that in the blank group(P<0.01). The results of cell scratch and transwell assays showed that compared with the blank group, the acetylalkannin groups showed reduced cell migration and invasion, and migration and invasion rates(P<0.05, P<0.01) and weakened horizontal and vertical migration and invasion abilities. Western blot results showed that compared with the blank group, the high-dose acetylalkannin group showed increased expression of Axin2 protein(P<0.05), and decreased expression of N-cadherin, vimentin, MMP-9, Wnt1, p-GSK-3β, β-catenin, cyclin D_1, and p21 proteins(P<0.05, P<0.01). The expression of GSK-3β protein did not change significantly. PCR results showed that the overall trend of MMP-2, N-cadherin, vimentin, β-catenin, snail-1, and CD44 mRNA expression was down-regulated(P<0.01), and the expression of E-cadherin mRNA increased(P<0.01). Acetylalkannin can inhibit the proliferation, migration, and invasion of human melanoma A375 cells, and its mechanism of action may be related to the regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.
Humans ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 2/metabolism* ; Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta/metabolism* ; beta Catenin/metabolism* ; Vimentin/metabolism* ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 9/metabolism* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Wnt Signaling Pathway ; Cadherins/genetics* ; Melanoma/genetics* ; Cyclin D/metabolism* ; Cell Proliferation ; Boraginaceae/genetics* ; RNA, Messenger ; Cell Movement

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics of anorectal mucosal melanoma (ARMM), and to evaluate the prognostic factors. METHODS: A total of 68 primary ARMM surgical specimens from 2010 to 2018 were retrospectively studied. Slides were reviewed to evaluate pathological features. Slingluff staging method was used for staging. RESULTS: (1) Clinical features: The median age at diagnosis in this group was 61.5 years, with a male-to-female ratio 1 ∶1.62. The most common complaint was blooding (49 cases). For anatomic site, anorectum was the prevalent (66.2%), followed by rectum (20.6%). At the time of diagnosis, 28 cases were stage Ⅰ (localized stage, 41.2%), 25 cases were stage Ⅱ (regional lymph node metastasis, 36.8%), and 15 cases were stage Ⅲ (distant metastasis, 22.1%). Five patients underwent wide local excision, the rest abdominoperineal resection, and 48 patients received adjuvant therapy after surgery. (2) Pathological features: Grossly 88.2% of the tumors were exophytic polypoid masses, with the median tumor size 3.5 cm and the median tumor thickness 1.25 cm. Depth of invasion below lamina muscularis mucosae ranged from 0-5.00 cm (median 1.00 cm). The deepest site of tumor invasion reached muscular layer in 27 cases, and perirectal tissue in 16 cases. Melanin pigmentation was absent or not obvious in 67.6% of the cases. The predominant cytology was epithelioid (45 cases, 66.2%). The rate for ulceration, necrosis, lymphovascular invasion, and perineural invasion was 89.7%, 35.3%, 55.9%, and 30.9%, respectively. The median mitotic count was 18/mm². The positive rate of S100, HMB-45 and Melan-A were 92.0%, 92.6% and 98.0%, respectively. The median of Ki-67 was 50%. The incidences of mutations within CKIT, BRAF and NRAS genes were 17.0% (9 cases), 3.8% (2 cases) and 9.4% (5 cases), respectively. (3) Prognosis: Survival data were available in 66 patients, with a median follow-up of 17 months and a median survival time of 17.4 months. The 1-year, 2-year and 5-year overall survival rate was 76.8%, 36.8% and 17.2%, respectively. The rate of lymphatic metastasis at diagnosis was 56.3%. Forty-nine patients (84.5%) suffered from distant metastasis, and the most frequent metastatic site was liver. Univariate analysis revealed that tumor size (>3.5 cm), depth of invasion below lamina muscularis mucosae (>1.0 cm), necrosis, lymphovascular invasion, BRAF gene mutation, lack of adjuvant therapy after surgery, deep site of tumor invasion, and high stage at diagnosis were all poor prognostic factors for overall survival. Multivariate model showed that lymphovascular invasion and BRAF gene mutation were independent risk factors for lower overall survival, and high stage at diagnosis showed borderline negative correlation with overall survival. CONCLUSION The overall prognosis of ARMM is poor, and lymphovascular invasion and BRAF gene mutation are independent factors of poor prognosis. Slingluff staging suggests prognosis effectively, and detailed assessment of pathological features, clear staging and genetic testing should be carried out when possible. Depth of invasion below lamina muscularis mucosae of the tumor might be a better prognostic indicator than tumor thickness.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Retrospective Studies ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf ; Prognosis ; Melanoma/surgery*