Metastatic melanoma: endoscopy as aid to earlier in vivo diagnosis of gastrointestinal involvement. A case report.

ABSTRACT

Autopsy frequently reveals gastrointestinal involvement in patients that have died from melanoma, whereas little evidence of the latter emerges in ante-mortem diagnosis and, even then, largely in connection with emergency situations obstructions, bleeding or perforation. Moreover, the frequently asymptomatic character of gastrointestinal melanoma explains why it largely eludes detection. The present report concerns a case of metastatic melanoma of the stomach, duodenum and liver, where symptoms were scarcely in evidence, and underlines the usefulness of digestive endoscopy both in the staging of the disease and even more so in follow-up.