What are the symptoms of melanoma? How is melanoma diagnosed?

The main clinical symptoms are dysphagia and dysphagia. These symptoms often occur when the tumor is large, blocks the esophageal cavity, and ulcers form on the surface of the tumor, which is similar to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and other esophageal malignant lesions that cause esophageal obstruction. Some patients have pain behind the sternum, discomfort, or weight loss, and some patients have vomiting blood and black stools. These symptoms are non-specific. According to case reports by some domestic authors, the course of more than 70% of cases is about half a year. According to statistics from Sabanathan et al. (1989), 7% of patients with primary malignant melanoma of the esophagus have enlarged left supraclavicular lymph nodes (metastatic lymph nodes), which should be paid attention to during physical examination and cannot be ignored.

The final diagnosis of primary malignant melanoma of the esophagus depends on the pathological examination of the surgically removed esophageal specimen. According to Sabanathan et al. (1989), 54% of primary malignant melanoma of the esophagus can be diagnosed by standard pathological examination, and 1/3 to 1/2 of the cases have borderline changes in the esophageal mucosa adjacent to the tumor during histological examination. Currently, the diagnosis of esophageal melanoma is generally not difficult using standard pathological examination combined with immunohistochemical examination. However, it is important to exclude metastatic lesions.