Case report of melanoma metastasizing to the pancreas

Abstract

The differential diagnosis of solid pancreatic masses is notably problematic, given the broad spectrum of possible malignant and benign etiologies. Metastases of other malignancies constitute less than 5% of pancreatic lesions, with metastases of melanoma being among the least common. Melanoma is generally diagnosed via careful examination of the body surface. Exceptions to this include ocular and mucosal forms, cases with spontaneous regression of the primary site, and cases missed because of insufficient physical examination. We present a case of a symptomatic solid pancreatic mass, diagnosed by endosonography with fine needle aspiration biopsy, as a rare metastasis of malignant melanoma. The primary skin tumor was thereafter detected after careful physical examination. Timely skin examinations could lead to earlier diagnosis without the need for expensive and invasive procedures such as endosonography with fine needle aspiration biopsy. This case report stresses the general importance of careful skin self-examinations and skin examinations by physicians, beginning with general practitioners. This case also highlights the potential importance of performing a skin examination (an inexpensive and simple tool) when investigating pancreatic masses, as metastatic melanoma should always be considered a possibility during differential diagnosis.

A rare case of pancreatic metastasis from malignant melanoma mimicking pancreatitis on 18F-FDG PET/CT

“…Vargas-Jiménez et al described the case of a 60-year-old man presenting a mass located in the head of the pancreas, showing MRI signals typical for MM metastasis and confirmed by EUS-FNB [1]. A similar report was described by Tma and colleagues, who detected a mass located in the pancreas head in a 71-year-old female, resulted in a metastasis from MM at histology after EUS-FNA [2]. Recently introduced IT through immune checkpoint inhibitors, directed towards specific biomarkers such as programmed death-1 (PD-1) and PD-1 ligand (PDL-1), have thoroughly changed melanoma's therapeutic landscape [3].…”

Intra-Abdominal Malignant Melanoma: Challenging Aspects of Epidemiology, Clinical and Paraclinical Diagnosis and Optimal Treatment—A Literature Review

“…The primary tumor and the moment of the appearance of metastases can be temporarily spaced: [ 35 ] case of a nasal melanoma that metastasized to the pancreas 10 years after the diagnosis of the primary has been described, in addition to reports [ 36 ] of a similar phenomenon for choroidal melanoma. Furthermore, the differential diagnosis of a solid pancreatic mass should include metastatic melanoma [ 37 ], as shown in a previous section.…”