Head and neck mucosal
melanoma (MM) is a rare and aggressive
neoplasm, with high rates of local, regional, and distant failure. Owing to the small size of most reported series and their retrospective nature, and the lack of uniform comprehensive staging system, the effect of various treatment strategies on disease control and survival has been difficult to assess. The optimal management of head and neck MM is not well defined. Surgical treatment has being advocated as the primary treatment modality, with growing consideration for postoperative
radiotherapy, as wide surgical resection in the head and neck region is often difficult.
Radiotherapy is recently reported as a beneficial management modality, regardless of the fact that MM has been considered to be radioresistant. As significant morbidity is expected in high doses of
radiotherapy to the head and neck region, new radiographic modalities with better precision are required. Furthermore,
high-energy radiotherapy was suggested as a better
therapy to mucosal MM due to the suggested biology of the
tumor. The high rates of locoregional recurrence and distant
metastasis also suggest that a systemic treatment is needed. Currently, there is no role for adjuvant systemic
therapy for patients who have been successfully resected, but recent developments in the understanding of the biology of
melanoma and, in particular, specific growth pathways holds promise for the future. We strongly recommend further evaluation of the role of
chemotherapy and
immunotherapy to decrease the rates of distant
metastasis and improve survival.