Thoracic metastasis of malignant melanoma of unknown primary: A case report and literature review

Abstract

Introduction Metastatic melanoma of unknown primary (MUP) is an unusual entity found in distant sites without evident skin lesion. We report a case of 45-year-old woman who underwent monobloc resection of a metastatic thoracic malignant melanoma of unknown primary, and who is currently under immunotherapy without local or distant recurrence during a follow-up of 18 months. We demonstrate through this case that R0 resection of an MUP associated with immunotherapy improves the prognosis and survival in these patients. Case report This is a 45-year-old woman who underwent monobloc resection of a mass carrying the anterior arch of the second left rib associated with a wedge resection of a nodule at the left upper lobe. Histology confirmed that it was a malignant melanoma. Her history was negative for melanocytic lesions, physical examination and imaging had failed to identify a primary lesion. The patient is currently under nivolumab for Stage IV melanoma and does not present any complications or recurrence during the long term follow up. Discussion Metastatic melanoma of unknown primary (MUP) is a melanocytic lesion in distant sites in the absence of apparent skin involvement and is rare, accounting for 3, 2% of all incident melanomas as well as being yet poorly understood in terms of pathogenesis (Bae et al., 2015) [1]. MUP is clinically understudied, investigators to date have reported largely on the use of localized treatment for MUP (surgery or radiotherapy), while the efficacy of systemic therapy in MUP patients remains unexplored. Clinical trials of immunotherapy and targeted therapy in patients with advanced cutaneous melanoma have not explicitly reported response rates specific to MUP patient subgroups due to its low incidence and lack of annotation. MUP s response to these now FDA-approved therapies could add to the discussion of MUP s elusive biological characteristics, as well as aid in making clinical recommendations (Utter et al., 2017). Conclusion Metastatic MUP is an extremely rare entity which is still poorly understood, few cases are described in the literature, its treatment remains controversial and there are no specific treatment recommendations for patients with MUP. Several authors recommend local treatment when possible and tend to apply similar strategies for patients with paired stage primary known melanoma (PKM).