FOLLOWUP OF PRIMARY MALIGNANT MELANOMA OF THE PROSTATE

Malignant melanoma of the prostate gland: A systematic review

AIMS

Prostatic melanoma is a rare malignancy about which only scattered case reports and no systematic reviews have been published to date. We sought to better inform clinicians and pathologists caring for these patients by gathering all available evidence on the topic.

METHODS

We performed a systematic review of English and non-English articles indexed in PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus and Google Scholar about primary and metastatic prostatic melanoma.

RESULTS

In total, 25 studies describing 45 cases were identified. Most cases were metastases to the prostate, with only 10 primary prostatic cases. The median age of patients was 61 years with a wide range, and 89% were symptomatic at presentation, most commonly with obstructive symptoms (83%). Diagnosis requires histopathological analysis and often immunohistochemistry. Metastatic melanoma in the prostate carries a dismal prognosis with median overall survival of 3 months; on the other hand, among primary prostatic melanomas reported in the literature, 29% survived longer than 5 years. The most reasonable therapeutic approach consists in radical surgery possibly followed by adjuvant therapy.

A rare cause of acute urinary retention- Primary malignant melanoma of prostate

Acute urinary retention is commonly seen in elderly male patient due to benign enlargement of prostate. We report a 65-year-old male presenting with acute urinary retention diagnosed to have primary malignant melanoma of prostate. Primary malignant melanoma of genitourinary tract is very uncommon diagnosis in urology and prostate involvement is extremely rare. Till now only five cases have been reported.

Detection and Treatment of Primary Prostatic Melanoma

OBJECTIVE

To describe a case of primary melanoma of the prostate gland, then review the published literature of similar cases.

METHODS

Presentation of the clinical course of a 42-year-old man diagnosed with primary melanoma of the prostate after presenting with gross hematuria. Review of published literature.

RESULTS

Primary melanoma of the genitourinary tract is a very rare disease, representing less than 1% of all melanomas in men. Only 6 cases of primary melanomas have been previously reported in the English literature.

CONCLUSION

The current report emphasizes the importance of a multidisciplinary approach and adherence to treatment principles in cutaneous melanoma. With complete surgical extirpation (including extended pelvic lymphadenectomy as needed), close surveillance using 18F-FDG PET/CT, and aggressive systemic treatment in patients with good performance status, cure can be achieved.

Primary melanoma of the prostate: case report and review of the literature

Background

Primary melanoma of the prostate has an extremely rare incidence. Only five cases have been reported in the literature and prognosis is poor. The most likely origin of prostatic melanoma is the transitional epithelium of the prostatic urethra. Surgical care for primary melanoma of mucosal sites is less well established than for primary cutaneous melanoma, but excision of the primary is recommended if the patient has no systemic disease.

Case presentation

Here, we describe a case of primary malignant melanoma of the prostate. A 37-year-old male patient with history of both chemo- and radiation therapy for Hodgkin’s disease was admitted to the University Hospital Heidelberg on suspicion of pleomorphic sarcoma of the bladder. In-house diagnostic work-up revealed a malignant melanoma of the prostate. We then performed radical prostatectomy with extended lymphadenectomy. Despite presumably curative surgery, the patient suffered from early relapse of disease with pulmonary metastasis. Systemic chemotherapy and subsequent immuno-oncologic treatment was thereafter initiated.

Conclusion

Since prostatic melanoma is a rare disease and a melanoma metastasis of unknown primary is the differential diagnosis, a multidisciplinary approach including early imaging to rule out possible metastases and to search for another potentially existing primary is advisable. To prevent complications related to local tumor progression and to receive tissue for mutational analysis, we recommend complete surgical resection to reduce the tumor mass. Novel immune and targeted oncologic therapies can lead to an improved survival in some cases and support of clinical trials is needed.

Non-epithelial neoplasms of the prostate

Non-epithelial prostatic neoplasms are infrequent and cover a broad array of entities that include both benign and highly aggressive tumours. Because they are very infrequent, there is often limited understanding of them, and the recognition of these entities, when encountered, may pose a diagnostic challenge, owing to histological overlap between them or their rarity. Most lesions in this category are mesenchymal in origin, such as prostatic stromal tumours arising from specialized prostatic stroma, smooth muscle tumours, both benign and malignant, and solitary fibrous tumours. Less commonly occurring tumours include neural, germ cell and melanocytic tumours that may be derived from cells not normally present in the prostate. Some tumours have well-established extraprostatic counterparts and, when encountered, are more commonly extraprostatic/secondary in origin; these include gastrointestinal stromal tumours and most haematopoietic tumours. The majority of tumours are characterized by a spindle cell pattern with significant overlap in morphological features. In this setting, appropriate use of immunohistochemistry and molecular studies are often necessary for accurate diagnosis, prognosis, or prediction for therapy. This review addresses and updates the clinicopathological features of the entire spectrum of non-epithelial tumours with an approach to the histological diagnosis.