Ear melanoma: a four-case series

Abstract

External ear melanoma is rare, and early diagnosis and treatment are paramount for the patient's survival. Four clinical cases are reported, emphasizing the importance of the routine clinical examination of the ears in the dermatological consultation. The study included male and female patients, aged 60 to 81 years old, with melanocytic lesions in the outer ear, evaluated with detailed physical and dermoscopic examination, leading to the identification of lesions suggestive of melanoma. The cases were treated surgically with excision of the lesion, and the diagnoses were confirmed by histopathological study. The therapeutic approach was instituted early as most cases were diagnosed at an early stage, which directly impacted global survival.

Morphological features of benign pigmented ear lesions: a cross‐sectional study

“…The retrospective analysis of ear melanomas consisted of 29 lesions from 28 patients, including nine melanomas from two tertiary medical centers, 11 from a private pigmented-lesion clinic, and nine found by a literature search. [5][6][7][8][9] The Breslow thickness was available for 19 melanomas, including eight invasive melanomas (median thickness = 2.2 mm [range 0.2-11 mm]) and 11 in situ melanomas. Demographic data were available for 19/29 lesions; the majority of melanoma patients were males (73.6%, n = 14), and mean age was 61.5 years (range 38-85 years).…”

Auricular and periauricular melanomas have similar clinicopathologic factors and survival rates

“…[1][2][3][4][5]7 Furthermore, they are usually associated with early stage 2,6-8 and lower Breslow thickness. 2,5,6,8 The anatomical location of the tumor was concluded to have no impact on disease relapse and outcome; however, other variables such as older age, advanced clinical stage, increasing tumor thickness, presence of ulceration, lymph node involvement, and systemic dissemination are considered independent and adverse prognostic indicators of survival. [1][2][3][4][5]7,8 Relapse and survival rates of the auricular melanomas were found to be in association with various prognostic factors.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5]7,8 Relapse and survival rates of the auricular melanomas were found to be in association with various prognostic factors. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] We found that the relapse rate of auricular melanomas was 30% and 5-year RFS and OS rates were slightly lower than literature data; furthermore, auricular melanomas were associated with unfavorable predictors such as older age, male sex, thicker tumors, higher mitotic rate, ulcerated lesions, and node involvement. In 947 external ear melanomas, local recurrence and 5-year survival rates ranged from 0% to 27% and from 43 to 96%, respectively.…”

“…Ear melanomas often affect white men in their 60s and 70s 3–5,7,8 ; they more frequently arise in auricular helix regions, 1,2,4,5 and they are most commonly of a superficially spreading histopathological subtype 1–5,7 . Furthermore, they are usually associated with early stage 2,6–8 and lower Breslow thickness 2,5,6,8 .…”

“…Melanomas of the ear are rare malignancies; they comprise about 1% of all cutaneous melanomas and 10% of melanomas arising in the head and neck regions 1–5 . Similar to melanomas arising in other regions, surgical excision is the primary treatment for these patients 4 .…”