Primary Mucosal Malignant Melanoma: Two Case Reports

Primary mucosal malignant melanomas originate from melanocytes in mucosal membranes, which are located in the respiratory, gastrointestinal and urogenital tract. Mucosal melanomas are extremely rare and have a more aggressive and poor prognosis than skin melanoma. Local or distant metastasis, recurrence probability and mortality rates are higher. Although there are many epidemiological and etiological differences between mucosal melanomas and skin melanomas, there is no clear predisposing factor for mucosal melanomas. Mucosal melanomas constitute 1.3-1.4% of all melanomas, and 25-50% of these cases are head and neck tumors. The symptoms are non-specific and vary according to the location of the lesion. Knowing the typical radiological imaging characteristics of mucosal melanomas and its consideration in the differential diagnosis in clinical evaluation will increase the chance of early diagnosis and will positively affect the survival of patients. We present the radiological imaging characteristics and clinical course of a 57-year-old male patient who presented with a complaint of parotid mass and who died in a short period of time with widespread metastases, and a 72-year-old male patient who presented with epistaxis and who had no metastasis in the postoperative follow-up, but had a local recurrence.