Primary melanocarcinoma of the esophasu.Report of a case

RIMARY MELANOCARCINOMA of the esoph-P agus is a rare and interesting tumor.Its rarity is attested to by the fact that only ten cases are recorded in the literature, the last three cases being the only ones currently acceptable as being definitely primary in the esophagus.The interest in this type of tumor is engendered by the necessity of proving its being primary in the esophagus.Allen and Spitz, in a recent review of 934 patients with nielanocarcinoma at Memorial Hospital in New York, have set forth the currently acceptable criteria of primary melanocarcinoma wherever its location.The diagnostic criteria, as established by them, are based on the presence of junctional-nevus changes located at or near the periphery of the tumor proper.Using these criteria, three current cases of primary melanocarcinoma of the esophagus have been reported.Fowler and Sutherland, Garfinkle and Cahan, and Bullock, Thompson, and Gregory have all recorded cases with photographic evidence to substantiate their reports.The earlier cases reported by Baur, by Joliat, by Moersch and Broders, by Voss, by ,Jaleski and Waldo, by Burnett and St. John, and by Chalmagne present inadequate evidence to establish them as primary in the esophagus.Pack et al. in a review of the end results of treatment of melanocarcinoma mention two cases of primary melanocarcinoma of the esophagus but do not describe or document these tumors or cases in any way.The case herein reported is one that meets the acceptable criteria and would seem to be the fourth recorded case. CASE REPORTThe patient was a 63-year-old white man admitted to the New England Baptist Hospital with the chief complaint of dysphagia of two and one-half months' duration and anorexia of one month's duration.The symptoms of