Primary spinal melanoma.

The records of five patients with primary melanoma of the spinal cord were reviewed. The tumor most frequently presented as an intramedullary middle or lower thoracic cord lesion. The average duration of symptoms before pathological diagnosis was 29 months, and the average survival after laminectomy and radiation therapy was 6 years 7 months. The findings in this series, when compared with those in the literature, suggest that primary spinal melanoma is a more indolent malignancy than previously reported or than melanoma metastatic to the central nervous system.