Published online Mar 21, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i11.3296
Peer-review started: November 4, 2015
First decision: November 27, 2015
Revised: December 28, 2015
Accepted: January 9, 2016
Article in press: January 11, 2016
Published online: March 21, 2016
Primary esophageal or gastric melanoma is a very rare disease with early metastasis. Due to its atypical symptom and less efficiency of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the prognosis of esophageal or gastric melanoma is still very poor. Surgical resection remains the preferential treatment for esophageal or gastric melanoma. Here we present an extremely rare case of primary advanced esophago-gastric melanoma. Debulking surgery was performed without chemotherapy or radiotherapy. However, abdominal recurrence and hepatic metastases were found within one month by a postoperative follow-up computed tomography. Three and a half months after surgical resection, the patient died of extensive abdominal metastasis.
Core tip: Primary malignant digestive melanoma is a very rare disease with poor prognosis. Here we report an extremely rare and advanced case of primary esophago-gastric melanoma. Although the effect of combination strategy of surgical resection with chemotherapy or radiotherapy is still unclear, we strongly recommend a postoperative chemotherapy or radiotherapy due to the fast progression and extremely short survival of our case.