Primary malignant melanoma of penis

We report a case of primary penile malignant melanoma. The patient was an 80-year-old male, who developed a blackish macule and nodule on his penis during the past 10 years. Physical examination revealed he had a subcutaneous metastatic skin lesion near his left axilla; no other metastatic lesion could be identified. Total resection of the penis and bladder and inguinal and intrapelvic dissection of lymphnodes were performed with 8/42 positive nodes. The metastatic skin lesion was also dissected. These surgical procedures were followed by DAV combination chemotherapy (DTIC, ACNU and Vincristine ) with local injection of interferon-β. During the post-operative DAV-feron treatments, however, multiple metastatic lesions were discovered in his brain and lung. Stereotactic radiosurgery was performed for his brain metastases, which resulted in no benefit in our case. Primary malignant melanoma of the penis is a very aggressive and uncommon tumor and less than 30 cases have been reported in the Japanese literature. [Skin Cancer (Japan) 2004; 19: 243-246]