The Thousand Faces of Malignant Melanoma: A Systematic Review of the Primary Malignant Melanoma of the Esophagus

Gerardo Cazzato
Eliano Cascardi
Anna Colagrande
Teresa Lettini
Leonardo Resta
Cinzia Bizzoca
Francesca Arezzo
Vera Loizzi
Miriam Dellino
Gennaro Cormio
Nadia Casatta
Carmelo Lupo
Antonio Scillimati
Salvatore Scacco
Paola Parente
Lucia Lospalluti
Giuseppe Ingravallo

Open link

Publication date

July 2022

DOI

10.3390/cancers14153725

Publisher

MDPI AG

Journal

Cancers

Abstract

Primary Malignant Melanoma of the Esophagus (PMME) is an extremely rare cancer of the esophagus, accounting for 0.1–0.8% of all oro-esophageal cancers and <0.05% of all melanoma subtypes, with an estimated incidence of 0.0036 cases per million/year. We conduct a careful analysis of the literature starting from 1906 to the beginning of 2022, searching the PubMed, Science.gov, Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases. A total of 457 records were initially identified in the literature search, of which 17 were duplicates. After screening for eligibility and inclusion criteria, 303 publications were ultimately included, related to 347 patients with PMME. PMME represents a very rare entity whose very existence has been the subject of debate for ...