Objective: Malignant melanoma patients with unknown primary are encountered rarely and since the number of patients are small, data on their clinical course and prognosis are limited. In this study, malignant melanoma patients with unknown primary are reviewed.

Materials and Methods: Malignant melanoma patients with unknown primary were evaluated with respect to age, gender, site of metastases, surgical treatment, adjuvant chemo- / immunotherapy and radiotherapy. Patients’ loco-regional recurrences, distant metastases and date of death were recorded to calculate the disease-free and overall survival.

Results: Ten patients treated between 1999-2001 were included in the study. Regional lymph nodes were the metastatic sites in all patients and lymph node dissection was performed in all patients. During follow-up, six patients died due to distant metastases in three years (6-34 months) and four patients are alive after four years (48-62 months) without any evidence of disease.

Conclusion: In order to obtain long term survival in malignant melanoma patients with unknown primary, curative surgery should be performed and adjuvant therapies should be added. ©2007, Firat University, Medical Faculty