Primary oral malignant melanoma: case report

Primary oral malignant melanoma usually presents as a dark brown or black lesion. It is a rare malignancy, accounting for less than 1% of all melanomas and 1.6% of all head and neck malignancies, thus forming up to 0.5% of all oral malignancies in the world literature. In general, the prognosis of oral melanoma is poor and worse than that of cutaneous melanoma. The preferred treatment is radical surgery alone or in combination with radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and immunomodulatory agents. A case is presented of a large malignant melanoma of oral cavity, noticed six months before initial biopsy and by history described as a rapidly growing mass.