Oral Malignant Melanoma of the Mandibular Gingiva – A Unusal Case Report

摘要

Oral Malignant Melanoma (OMM) is a rare, aggressive neoplasm of melanocytic origin, which is known to have the worst prognosis than that of cutaneous melanomas. Primary malignant melanoma of the mouth is an extremely rare tumor arising from the uncontrolled growth of melanocytes found in the basal layer of the oral mucous membrane. It has a higher prevalence in blacks, Japanese, and Indians of Asia due to more frequent finding of melanin pigmentation in oral mucosa of these races. Nearly 80% of oral malignant melanomas (OMM) arise in the mucosa of the upper jaws in elderly patients, with the majority occurring on keratinizing mucosa of the palate and alveolar gingivae. The five-year survival reported in the literature for OMM varies from 0 - 45 % whereas the overall survival for head and neck melanomas ranges between 20 and 48%. Maxillary gingiva and palate are commonly affected. Very few cases have been reported in the mandibular gingiva. It can occur at any age with the range of 20 to 80 years, but less common below 30 years. OMM may appear in various forms including pigmented macule, pigmented nodule, or a large pigmented exophytic lesion or an amelanotic variant of any of these three forms Clinically, it is easy to overlying epithelium. Here we are reporting a rare case of large exophytic, multilobulated OMM involving whole of left mandibular gingiva in a 30 year old male patient.