Anorectal mucosal melanoma

// Giulia Malaguarnera 1, 7 , Roberto Madeddu 2 , Vito Emanuele Catania 3 , Gaetano Bertino 4 , Luca Morelli 5 , Rosario Emanuele Perrotta 6 , Filippo Drago 7 , Michele Malaguarnera 1, 7 and Saverio Latteri 3 1 Research Center “The Great Senescence”, University of Catania, Catania, Italy 2 Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy 3 Department of Medical, Surgical Sciences and Advanced Technologies “G.F. Ingrassia”, University of Catania, Catania, Italy 4 Hepatology Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, Policlinico “G. Rodolico”, Catania, Italy 5 Department of Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy 6 Department of General Surgery and Medical-Surgery Specialties, University of Catania, Catania, Italy 7 Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Science, University of Catania, Catania, Italy Correspondence to: Giulia Malaguarnera, email: giulia.malaguarnera@live.it Keywords: malignant melanoma; mucosal melanoma; anorectal tumours; anorectal melanoma; treatment Received: August 07, 2017      Accepted: December 26, 2017      Published: January 02, 2018 ABSTRACT Anorectal melanoma is an uncommon and aggressive mucosal melanocytic malignancy. Due to its rarity, the pre-operative diagnosis remains difficult. The first symptoms are non-specific such as anal bleeding, anal mass or pain. Although anorectal melanoma carries a poor prognosis; optimal therapeutics strategies are unclear. Surgical resection remains the mainstay of treatment. The optimal surgical procedure for primary tumours is controversial and can vary from wide local excision or endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) to an abdomino-perineal resection. A high degree of uncertainly exists regarding the benefit of radiation therapy or chemotherapy. The treatment of advanced melanoma is evolving rapidly with better understanding of the disease biology and immunology. Considerable effort has been devoted to the identification of molecular determinants of response to target therapies and immunotherapy.