Review Article
Oral Malignant Melanoma: A Brief Review
Nambiar S1*, Vishwanath MN2, Bhat S2, Farzana F2, Khwaja T2 and Alrani D21Department of Oral Pathology, SDM College of Dental Sciences, Karnataka, India
2Department of Dental Sciences, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka, India
- Corresponding Author:
- Swetha Nambiar
Department of Oral Pathology, SDM College of Dental Sciences, Sattur, Dharwad, Karnataka, 580009, India
Tel: +917259469783,0824-2481770
E-mail: drshwethas83@gmail.com
Received Date: August 25, 2016; Accepted Date: September 21, 2016; Published Date: September 23, 2016
Citation: Nambiar S, Vishwanath MN, Bhat S, Farzana F, Khwaja T, et al. (2016) Oral Malignant Melanoma: A Brief Review. J Clin Exp Pathol 6:294. doi: 10.4172/2161-0681.1000294
Copyright: © 2016 Nambiar S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Malignant melanoma is an aggressive neoplasm affecting the oral cavity. It has the most biologically unpredictable behavior. The tumors can be locally invasive or metastasize to other parts of the body. Pre-existing pigmentations can evolve into malignant melanomas in about 30% of the cases. Hence, early detection of pigmented lesions of undetermined origin is important and should be routinely biopsied. Surgical management in still considered the first line of treatment of malignant melanoma. The deceiving asymptomatic presentation at early stages, rarity and poor prognosis emphasizes on need for highly specialized treatment. This review on oral malignant melanoma provides insight to a very aggressive neoplasm that can affect the oral cavity, it’s biological nature and behavior, early detection, diagnosis and insight into new treatment modalities.