Complete remission of the liver metastases of anorectal malignant melanoma with regional chemotherapy: a case report.

The prognosis of anorectal malignant melanoma is very poor. We present a 48-year-old male patient with anorectal malignant melanoma and multiple liver metastases who underwent abdominoperineal resection. A port system was implanted to the gastroduodenal artery for regional chemotherapy for liver metastases. Histopathological findings of tumor were 5 cm diameter and 2 cm depth, invading to the external sphincter. Both regional chemotherapy and immunotherapy were initiated 4 weeks postoperatively. The immunochemotherapy regimen included cisplatin (via port system) 50 mg/m2 once in 2 weeks, x 8 cycles, alpha-interferon 5 x 10(6) U subcutaneously on days 1-7 in 4 weeks, x 8 cycles, interleukin-2 9 x 10(6) U subcutaneously on days 5-9 in 4 weeks, x 8 cycles. Computed tomography scan was taken after the 2nd and 4th cycles of chemotherapy and the tumor had not responded to chemotherapy. Dacarbazine 200 mg/m2 intravenously on days 1-5 in a month, x 4 cycles, was added to the previous immunochemotherapy regimen. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scans were taken on the 10th and 12th months after operation, respectively, no evidence of metastases in the liver was noted. No case of complete remission of liver metastases of anorectal malignant melanoma with regional intraarterial chemotherapy and systemic immunochemotherapy has been previously reported in the literature.