Xiong ZE, Wei XX, Wang L, Xia C, Li ZY, Long C, Peng B, Wang T. Endoscopic ultrasound features of rectal melanoma: A case report and review of literature. World J Clin Cases 2024; 12(16): 2862-2868 [PMID: 38899292 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i16.2862]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ting Wang, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, No. 2 Huangjiahu Road, Qingling Street, Hongshan District, Wuhan 430065, Hubei Province, China. wt197391@wust.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Jun 6, 2024; 12(16): 2862-2868 Published online Jun 6, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i16.2862
Endoscopic ultrasound features of rectal melanoma: A case report and review of literature
Zhang-E Xiong, Xin-Xiang Wei, Li Wang, Chen Xia, Zi-Yin Li, Chan Long, Bo Peng, Ting Wang
Zhang-E Xiong, Zi-Yin Li, Chan Long, Bo Peng, Department of Gastroenterology, Wuhan Third Hospital, Wuhan 430060, Hubei Province, China
Xin-Xiang Wei, Li Wang, Ting Wang, Department of Pharmacy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430065, Hubei Province, China
Chen Xia, Department of Pathology, Wuhan Third Hospital, Wuhan 430060, Hubei Province, China
Co-first authors: Zhang-E Xiong and Xin-Xiang Wei.
Author contributions: Wei XX and Wang L contributed to manuscript writing and editing, and data collection; Xiong ZE, Xia C, Li ZY, Long C and Peng B contributed to patient management and histological evaluation; Wang T contributed to conceptualization and supervision; Xiong ZE and Wei XX contributed equally to this work as co-first authors. All authors contributed to revision for important intellectual content and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported byThe Research Foundation of Wuhan Municipal Health Commission, No. WX21D02.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors read the CARE Checklist (2016), and this manuscript was prepared and revised according to its guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ting Wang, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, No. 2 Huangjiahu Road, Qingling Street, Hongshan District, Wuhan 430065, Hubei Province, China. wt197391@wust.edu.cn
Received: January 2, 2024 Revised: February 28, 2024 Accepted: April 10, 2024 Published online: June 6, 2024 Processing time: 147 Days and 22.8 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Rectal mucosal melanoma is a rare and highly aggressive disease. Common symptoms include anal pain, an anal mass, or bleeding. As such, the disease is usually detected on rectal examination of patients with other suspected anorectal diseases. However, due to its rarity and nonspecific symptoms, melanoma of the rectal mucosa is easily misdiagnosed.
CASE SUMMARY
This report describes the case of a 58-year-old female patient who presented with a history of blood in her stool for the prior one or two months, without any identifiable cause. During colonoscopy, a bulge of approximately 2.2 cm × 2.0 cm was identified. Subsequently, the patient underwent endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) to characterize the depth of invasion of the lesions. EUS suggested a hypoechoic mucosal mass with involvement of the submucosal layer and heterogeneity of the internal echoes. Following surgical intervention, the excised tissue samples were examined and confirmed to be rectal malignant melanoma. The patient recovered well with no evidence of recurrence during follow-up.
CONCLUSION
This case shows that colonoscopy with EUS and pathological examination can accurately diagnose rare cases of rectal mucosal melanoma.
Core Tip: Rectal mucosal melanoma is an exceptionally rare cancer that is more aggressive than other melanomas of the same stage. It’s vague symptoms, such as anal pain or rectal bleeding, especially in the early stages, lead to common misdiagnose of hemorrhoids and colorectal cancer due to its lack of melanin manifestations and hyperpigmentation. In this case report, we described a diagnostic process through different endoscopic and imaging examinations.
