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Vol.47 No.1 contents | Japanese/English |
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- Case Report -
Malignant Melanoma of the Lung of Unknown Origin
Tamaki Okamoto1, Tsuyoshi Shoji1, Toru Bando1, Tsuyoshi Takahashi1, Hiromi Wada11Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kyoto University, Japan
We report a case of malignant melanoma of the lung of unknown origin. Case. A 50-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of an abnormal shadow on chest roentgenogram and bilateral multiple pulmonary nodules on chest CT. Right upper lobectomy was carried out and the histological diagnosis of the tumor was malignant melanoma. Two nodules of the left lung were resected 1 month after the first operation, and they were also diagnosed as malignant melanoma. Although systemic examination was thoroughly performed, the original lesion was not detected. The color of the right second finger nail had changed to black about 10 years previously, but spontaneously regressed. Therefore the primary lesion might have been the finger nail. Although the patient underwent chemotherapy with DAV-Feron for 5 months after the second operation, metastatic lesions appeared in the lung, liver and vertebrae, and are now recently treatment. Conclusion. Malignant melanoma rarely originates in the lung and spontaneous regression often occurrs. Therefore, we should carefully search for the origin of pulmonary lesions.
key words: Malignant melanoma, Lung, Spontaneous regression, Unknown origin, Pulmonary metastasis
Received: May 1, 2006
Accepted: December 4, 2006
JJLC 47 (1): 53-57, 2007
