Spectrum of primary non-cutaneous malignant melanomas in northern Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To study the frequency and distribution of non-cutaneous malignant melanoma in Northern Pakistan using a cross-sectional descriptive design at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Rawalpindi, from 1987-2008. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 234 cases of malignant melanoma reported from 1987-2008 were retrieved from the AFIP tumour registry and analysed for age, gender and site using computer software SPSS 12. RESULTS: Of a total of 58,680 malignant cases reported at AFIP from 1987-2008, only 234 (0.4%) were of malignant melanoma, 142 in males and 92 in females. The age range was 10-97 years, with a mean of 53 ± 16. Only 69 (29.5%) were cutaneous and 165 (70.5%) were non-cutaneous in origin: there were 62 (37.4%) cases from anorectal region, 39 (23.4%)were from eye ball and 17 (10.2%) in the nasopharynx, 13 cases (7.8%) from oral mucosa and 11 (6.6%) from the vagina. CONCLUSION: Malignant melanoma is markedly less cutaneous in Pakistan as compared to the western world, often being found in the anorectal region followed by the eye, nasopharynx, and oral mucosa in descending order.