Treatment and prognosis of primary malignant melanoma of the oral cavity--an analysis of 12 cases and 96 reported cases

The treatment methods and prognosis were discussed in 12 patients of oral melanoma who were treated at Dept. of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Kobe Univ. School of Medicine from 1975 to 1989, with a review of 96 cases published in the Japanese literature between 1984 and 1988, and the following findings were obtained. 1. Eleven our 12 cases were acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM), and one case was nodular melanoma (NM). 2. The early two cases were died of distant metastasis. Of the recent ten cases which were underwent surgical excision combined with adjuvant immunochemotherapy with DTIC, ACNU, VCR and OK-432, nine cases had good prognosis, and one case was died of local recurrence. 3. The prognosis of the reported cases was poor because of local recurrence and distant metastasis.