ASO Author Reflections: Treatment Approaches to Sinonasal Mucosal Melanoma

Excerpt

Sinonasal mucosal melanoma (SNMM) is a rare oncological entity that comprises most head and neck mucosal melanomas.1 Survival outcomes among SNMM patients are poor; whereas patients with localized cutaneous melanoma have a 5-year overall survival rate of 70–80%, those with localized SNMM have a 5-year overall survival rate of only 30%.2 There is no clear consensus on the optimal management of SNMM, although the primary treatment modality is generally considered to be wide surgical excision, and radiation therapy (RT) is often used in the postoperative adjuvant setting to improve locoregional control.3,4 Systemic therapies have demonstrated little or no survival benefit, and most SNMM patients die of distant metastatic disease. Owing to the rarity of the disease, the literature describing treatment approaches for SNMM is lacking. In our study, we describe contemporary diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to SNMM based on the most recent outcome data of nearly 200 consecutive patients with SNMM who had been treated at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center from 1 January 1991 through 31 December 2016.5 …