Malignant melanomas of the lower female genital tract

Malignant melanomas (MM) that affect oral, ocular, respiratory and genital mucosa are rather rare neoplasms. Mucosal MMs usually escape early discovery due to their locations and are typically large, ulcerated, fungating advanced tumors at diagnosis. While cutaneous MM are slowly progressing indolent tumors when discovered early with metastases primarily to lymph nodes and only late hematogenous distant metastases, mucosal MMs of various locations have a poor prognosis with aggressive local growth, early hematogenous dissemination and rapid death. The vulva is a unique organ characterized by the transition from…