Malignant melanomas of the upper respiratory tract

Abstract

Malignant melanomas of the upper respiratory tract are rare tumors. There were 5 cases of primary melanomas of the upper respiratory tract in a series collected from the Singapore Institute of Pathology over a 21 year period (1950-1970). Of these cases, 3 arose from the nasal cavity, 1 from the maxillary sinus and 1 from the nasopharynx. The ratio of malignant melanomas of the nasal cavity and sinus to skin melanomas was appreciably higher in Singapore than in Western countries, this however is probably due to the low incidence of skin melanomas in Singapore. Approximately 2% of all cancer of the nasal cavity and sinuses were malignant melanomas. The age-standardized incidence of malignant melanoma of the nasal cavity and sinuses in Singapore was 0.10 per 100,000 per year for males and 0.03 per 100,000 per year for females. There was only one case of nasopharyngeal melanoma in this series; one other well documented and acceptable case was found in the literature.