• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.697-700
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• 2002

Primary malignant melanoma of the mediastinum is extremely rare : To date, there have been only 8 cases reported in the literature. We report a case of a 50-year-old woman presented with an anterior mediastinal mass. The mass invaded the lung parenchyme of right upper lobe, which was wedge-resected with the mass. Microscopically, spindle or polygonal tumor cells with prominent nucleoli and intracytoplasmic melanin pigments are characterized and Fontana stain confirmed the presence of melanin pigment. Immunohistochemical studies showed diffuse positive staining for HMB45, S100 protein and vimentin, which further suggested melanoma.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.409-413
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• 1999

Malignant melanoma develops from the melanocyte and the most common primary site is skin, followed by mucosa and retina. Even though any other tissue where melanocytes reside could be the primary site of the malignant melanoma, the one developed in the mediastinum is rarely reported. We experienced a patients of 54 years old woman whose initial symptom was progressive dyspnea for one month, and proved to have the anterior mediastinal mass with pleural effusion and the small mass in the abdominal soft tissue. The needle aspiration biopsy from the mediastinal mass showed the consistent findings with malignant melanoma. We concluded the mediastinum was the primary site of the malignant melanoma of this patient because we couldn't find any other evidence of primary tumor in skin, oral and gastrointestinal mucosa, and retina. She has been treated with combined chemotherapy with dacarbazine, cisplatin and vinblastine. Her symptom was improved after chemotherapy and follow up chest CT after three cycles of chemotherapy showed the decreased tumor size in the mediastinum.