Sino Nasal Malignant Mucosal Melanoma - A rare case report

Mucosal malignant melanoma of sino nasal cavity is relatively rare disease with only limited amount of data existing with regards to the prevalance, presentation, treatment modality,and survival rates.High index of suspicion is required for diagnosis as the patients may present with varying degree of nonspecific signs and symptoms.Mucosal melanomas of head and neck represents 8-15 of all malignant melanomas of head and neck region and accounting for less than 1 of all melanomas.They comprise 3.5 of all malignancies of sinonasal region.The tumour is more inclined to metastasize into regional lymph nodes and distant sites with high rate of recurrence resulting in high rate of case specific death.The prognosis is grim with most published reports document a dissmal survival(5 year survival ) rate of 10 -15.Because of the rarity, mucosal melanomas are poorly understood and studied.Besides the head and neck region they occur in genital organs,anorectals, urinary tract ,eye etc.