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Unusual association of diseases/symptoms
CASE REPORT
Metastatic melanoma of unknown primary in the temporalis muscle
  1. Marco Dalle Carbonare1,
  2. Mei Xien Goh1,
  3. Zainab AlshiekhAli2,
  4. David Howlett3
  1. 1Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department, Eastbourne District General Hospital, Eastbourne, UK
  2. 2Pathology Department, Eastbourne District General Hospital, Eastbourne, UK
  3. 3Radiology Department, Eastbourne District General Hospital, Eastbourne, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Marco Dalle Carbonare, marcodallecarbonare{at}hotmail.it

Summary

Melanomas are aggressive cancers that present as cutaneous, mucosal and ocular lesions with the ability to metastasise widely. There are, however, occasions where lesions are found in distant sites such as lymph nodes, viscera and subcutaneous tissues without clinically apparent skin involvement. This is known as metastatic melanoma of unknown primary (MUP). Its presentation in skeletal muscle is rare, and the available literature is sparse. This article presents an 85-year-old woman with a MUP presenting in the right temporalis muscle, which was diagnosed with the aid of the ultrasound-guided core biopsy. The melanoma deposit was successfully excised, and no recurrence was identified. The patient is now under close follow-up.

  • radiology
  • head and neck surgery
  • surgical oncology

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2017-221577

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors All authors have contributed to the manuscript. MDC and MXG were equally responsible and carried out the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data, the bibliographic review and the major drafting of the article. ZAA and DH were responsible for the histopathological and radiological aspects of the scientific paper, respectively. They also carried out the final critical revision of the manuscript and approved the final draft. MDC and DH were responsible for the initial conception and design of the current study. The final revisions were done by MDC and MXG and finally approved by ZAA and DH.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.