Gastrointestinal metastases from malignant melanoma.

Between 1980 and 1992, 68 patients with clinical indications of involvement of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract with metastatic melanoma were treated at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Presenting symptoms were anaemia, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. Sites commonly involved were the small bowel (75%), the large intestine (25%), and the stomach (16%). Twenty-one patients were considered unsuitable for surgery; their median survival after diagnosis of GI metastases was 2.9 months. Forty-seven patients underwent abdominal surgery; effective palliation was achieved in most of them. Complete resection of GI metastases was accomplished in 47% of patients. The median survival after operation was 27.6 months for patients with complete resection of GI metastasis and no other disease, 5.1 months for patients with resection of involved GI tract and other metastases present, and 1.9 months for patients who had a by-pass procedure only. The 5-year survival for patients with complete resection of GI metastases and no other evidence of disease was 28.3%. The other groups had only 1-year survivors. Surgical intervention is justified on the basis of these findings, and extended palliation can be achieved in patients with complete resection of metastatic disease.