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. 2021 Jan 18:62:182-185.
doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2021.01.026. eCollection 2021 Feb.

Melanoma of the oral cavity: A silent killer

Rachid Aloua  1 , Amine Kaouani  1 , Ouassime Kerdoud  1 , Iro Salissou  1 , Faiçal Slimani  2   1
Affiliations

Melanoma of the oral cavity: A silent killer

Rachid Aloua et al. Ann Med Surg (Lond). .

Abstract

Melanoma of the mouth is a rare entity of cancer. It has a bad prognosis. We report two cases of mouth melanoma. In the first case, 68 years old man developed a mandibular gingival tumor. Head and neck MRI scans showed an aggressive tumor process in the mouth with bone extension and in the deep spaces. The patient was free of cervical lymph nodes. The second case is a 75-years-old male with heavy tobacco smoke. The man felt a burgeoning mass on the right palate. The neck palpation found a firm mobile non-tender mass at the left upper jugular region. The anatomopathological study of the biopsies assigned both cases to malignant melanoma. Because of the rarity and delays in diagnosis, case reports are an invaluable source of information.

Keywords: Diagnosis; Mucosal melanoma; Oral cancer; Prognosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Authors of this article have no conflict or competing interests. All of the authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Male 68-year-old patient with mandibular gingival melanoma measuring 6 cm × 3 cm, pigmented, bluish and bleeding on contact.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
MRI contrast tomography detected a large mass of the mandible, which appears infiltrated into the deep spaces of the face.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Clinical setting of a 31-year-old patient with oral melanoma in hard palate with a 2-year disease length.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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