Metastatic melanoma of the tongue arising from oral melanosis

Abstract

Primary oral melanoma is a rare tumor that has been estimated to represent 0.1% of melanoma cases in whites.1 A review of 20 cases of tongue melanomas1 and a literature survey in PubMed revealed a total of 32 published cases. One-third of patients diagnosed as having primary oral melanoma also had preexisting pigmented lesions at the same site. The prognosis is poor, with a 5-year survival rate of only 26.4%.2 We report a lethal case of primary melanoma of the tongue that developed within an oral melanosis that had been biopsied 9 years before its malignant transformation.