| Abstract: | 46 patients with malignant melanoma of the head and neck as treated in our hospital from March 1964 to December 1981 are reported. 29 were male and 17 were female. The sex ratio ws 1.7:1. 56.5% of patients were 40-60 years old. The tumor occurred most frequently in the nasal cavity, next in the oral cavity. Lesions originating from the eye and skin in the head and neck region comprised 15.2% of cases. Melanoma of the nasal cavity and eye rarely metastasized into the cervical lymph nodes but melanoma arising from the skin of head and neck had a metastatic rate of 57.1%. 50% of melanoma of the gingiva metastasized to the neck glands. In this series, 29 patients were treated by operation. The overall 3 and 5 year survival rates of these 46 patients are 38% and 15.7%. The 3 and 5 year survival rates of those without regional lymph node metastasis are 51% and 28%. The 3 and 5 year survivals of those with regional lymph node metastasis are 13% and 0%. Other methods, such as surgery plus chemotherapy, chemotherapy alone and radiotherapy plus surgery or chemotherapy were used only in a few cases which could not be evaluated. |
