Vaginal melanoma. Report of two cases and review of the literature.

Two cases of primary vaginal melanoma were treated between 1984 and 1986 at the Asturias Central Hospital, University Centre. Radical surgery was carried out in the first case--the patient surviving six months--and irradiation in the second case--living for only four months. Genital melanoma is a rare tumor--accounting for 3 per cent of female melanomas--with only 125 patients having been reported in the literature concerning vaginal melanoma. There is great disagreement as to the optimal treatment although radical surgery is the most frequently used. Primary vaginal melanoma is a lesion of poor prognosis, even more serious than cutaneous localizations, such as vulvar melanoma.