Melanoma metastásico

Abstract

Malignant melanoma is a tumor with significant impact on society that affects patients of all ages, especially young people. Although the majority of patients have localized disease at diagnosis and can be cured by surgical removal of the primary tumor in situ, many of them are diagnosed when they have metastasis, and most die quickly. We communicate the case of a 15 year-old patient with a history of resection of pigmented lesion located in outer heel. He suffered progressive pain in back of left thigh, hyperoxia, fatigue, weakness, generalized cephalea, vomiting and weight loss. Biopsy of the left thigh revealed metastatic malignant melanoma. The patient died due to central nervous system metastasis. Prevention strategies about malignant melanoma in childhood and adolescence should be implemented. Physicians should be aware of suspicious lesions, and perform biopsy using ABCDE criteria. Early diagnosis is the key to cure metastatic melanoma.