Sino nasal melanoma of nasal cavity: a case report

Sino-nasal melanoma is a rare, recurrent aggressive tumour among head and neck cancers. Nasal obstruction and recurrent, painless epistaxis are commonly reported symptoms seen in old aged individuals. The symptoms are non-specific and tend to delay the diagnosis resulting in poor prognosis. We report 80 year old male patient who presented with recurrent, painless epistaxis from the left nasal cavity with nasal obstruction. Anterior rhinoscopic examination revealed bluish black proliferative bleeding mass completely filling left nasal cavity. Contrast enhanced computed tomography showed a polypoidal soft tissue attenuation with heterogeneous enhancement completely filling left nasal cavity. Patient underwent endoscopic excision. Histopathology of specimen showed small round blue cell tumour, suggestive of sino nasal melanoma. S100 and HMB 45 were found to be positive on immunohistochemistry. Patient was then subjected to chemoradiation. No evidence of recurrence till date.