THE ERRATIC behavior of malignant melanoma has been discussed by many authors. Conley and Pack1 have stated "melanoma of the head and neck is a capricious disease." Malignant melanomas occurring in certain areas such as the soles of the feet, the palms of the hands, and the genitalia are known to have a poor prognosis. The same is true of melanomas occurring in the mucous membranes of the nose and paranasal sinuses. There are few documented instances of survival from this disease.
Review of Literature
Approximately 20% of the melanomas reported by Conley and Pack occurred in the head and neck while only 6.3% (eight patients) of these 175 melanomas occurred in the mucous membrane. Of these eight patients only one was free of the tumor after five years. This patient was treated with irradiation alone, and the primary lesion involved the tonsil.Mesara and Burton2 in 1968