Primary Malignant Melanoma of the Gallbladder

• Published in: Gan to kagaku ryoho Vol. 43; no. 12; p. 1603
• Main Authors: Ujiie, Daisuke, Miyamoto, Kotaro, Onozawa, Hisashi, Hoshi, Nobuhiro, Nakayama, Koichi, Urazumi, Kojiro, Takenoshita, Seiichi, Kusakabe, Takashi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Japan 01-11-2016
• Subjects: Aged; Fatal Outcome; Gallbladder Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Gallbladder Neoplasms - pathology; Gallbladder Neoplasms - surgery; Humans; Male; Melanoma - diagnostic imaging; Melanoma - secondary; Melanoma - surgery; Multimodal Imaging; Neoplasm Metastasis
• ISSN: 0385-0684

Primary malignant melanoma of the gallbladder is a rare disease, and 37 cases have been reported in the literature.The current patient was a 78-year-old man who was admitted with a pelvic tumor and left leg edema due to compression of the external iliac vein by the pelvic tumor.The edema improved following resection of the tumor, which was diagnosed at pathology as a malignant melanoma.After surgery, the patient became anorexic and complained of discomfort in the upper right abdomen.A whole body FDG-PET scan demonstrated significant uptake in the gallbladder and in the lymph nodes of the lower abdomen.The patient underwent open cholecystectomy, and the pathological diagnosis was malignant melanoma. Junctional activity was seen in the gallbladder, suggesting that this was the primary site.No melanocytic lesions of the skin or eyes were detected, further supporting the diagnosis of primary malignant melanoma of the gallbladder.Chemotherapy was initiated, but the patient died on February 28, 2016.