Cryosurgery alone or in combination with radiotherapy and hyperthermia in the treatment of head and neck mucosal and cutaneous melanoma

Mucosal melanoma of upper aerodigestive tract includes 2-27% of all melanomas. A mucosal origin can be found in 0.4-10% of all head and neck melanomas. Well-localized lesions are amenable to surgical excision. Melanoma is one of the most radio-resistant tumors and chemotherapy may only be beneficial in metastatic patients. Cryosurgery and hyperthermia are new options in the palliative treatment of head and neck melanomas. Four clinical cases of cryosurgery of head and neck melanoma are presented in this paper. In the first one, radio-hyperthermia was added for the treatment of lymph-node metastases; the other three non-metastatic patients were treated with cryosurgery alone. The disease-free interval, the low complication rate and the satisfactory aesthetic result occurring underscore the effectiveness of cryosurgery. The combination of radiotherapy and hyperthermia is required in inoperable pts with lymphonode metastasis.