Abstract
A diagnosis of malignant melanoma of the breast is rare. There are only a few reported cases in the literature. Nonetheless, it remains an important differential diagnosis for pigmented lesions of the breast. The clinical presentation is similar to that of malignant melanoma elsewhere on the skin. Clinicians should suspect the diagnosis if there is a change in size, pigmentation, ulceration and bleeding present in a pre-existing nevus. Once a diagnosis of malignant melanoma of the breast has been made, prognosis will depend on tumour size, Clarke’s level, Breslow thickness, location of the lesion, ulceration and whether metastases are present. Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) with lymphoscintigraphic mapping is a useful, minimally invasive procedure used for survival and prognosis prediction in these patients.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Godar DE. Worldwide increasing incidences of cutaneous malignant melanoma. J Skin Cancer. 2011;2011:858425.
Lens MB, Dawes M. Global perspectives of contemporary epidemiological trend of cutaneous malignant melanoma. Br J Dermatol. 2004;150(2):179–85.
Merrill SJ, Subramanian M, Godar DE. Worldwide cutaneous malignant melanoma incidences analysed by sex, age, and skin type over time (1955–2007): is HPV infection of androgenic hair follicular melanocytes a risk factor for developing melanoma exclusively in people of European-ancestry? Dermatoendocrinology. 2016;8(1):e1215391.
Merrill SJ, Ashrafi S, Subramanian M, et al. Exponentially increasing incidences of cutaneous malignant melanoma in Europe correlate with low personal annual UV doses and suggests two major risk factors. Dermatoendocrinology. 2015;7(1):e1004018.
National Cancer Registry. Cancer in Ireland 1994–2012: annual report of the National Cancer Registry. Cork, Ireland: NCR; 2014.
Sills M, Norton S, Landers R, et al. Malignant melanoma of the breast: a case report. J Cancer Biol Res. 2016;4(1):1075.
Yujun HE, Jianghong MOU, Donglin LOU, Bo GAO, Yyuan WEN. Primary malignant melanoma of the breast: a case report and review of the literature. Oncol Lett. 2014;8:238–40.
Pressman PI. Malignant melanoma and the breast. Cancer. 1973;31:784–92.
Vasudevan JA, Somanathan T, Mathews A, Kattoor J. Malignant melanoma of breast: a unique case with diagnostic dilemmas. Indian J Pathol Microbiol. 2014;57:287–9.
Balch CM, Gershenwald JE, Soong SJ, Thompson JF, et al. Final version of 2009 AJCC melanoma staging and classification. J Clin Oncol. 2009;27(36):6199–206.
Drummer R, Hauschild A, Lindenblatt N, Pentheroudakis G, Keilholz U. Cutaneous melanoma: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. Ann Oncol. 2015;26(Suppl 5):126–32.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Norton, S., Sills, M., O’Donoghue, G. (2018). Malignant Melanoma of the Breast. In: Shiffman, M. (eds) Nipple-Areolar Complex Reconstruction. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60925-6_23
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60925-6_23
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-60924-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-60925-6
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)