Transplacental Transmission of Melanotic Tumor in an 8-Month Old Female Infant: A Case Report

Apostolos Pourtsidis, Maria Nikita, Dimitrios Doganis, Marina Servitzoglou, Konstantina Kapetaniou, Smaragda Papachristidou, Evgenia Magkou, Michael Tsakanikos and Margarita Baka

Department of Oncology, P & A Kyriakou Children’s Hospital, Greece
Department of ENT, Children’s Hospital "P & A Kyriakou", Greece

^*Correspondance to: Apostolos Pourtsidis 

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Abstract:

Malignant melanoma is rare in children younger than 15 years, accounting for less than 1% of pediatric malignancies. We present an unusual case of an atypical malignant melanoma in an 8-month old female infant. The patient was admitted in our hospital due to swelling and erythema of the left cheek and the mastoid region, followed by otorrhea and fever. Ear fluid cultures revealed the presence of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa and she was accordingly treated with IV antibiotics. Despite treatment, no clinical improvement was achieved. The petrous temporal bone CT scan showed a tumor within the mastoid cavity and a biopsy was performed. Pathology reported the presence of a melanocytic tumor of the mastoid process with areas of high grade malignancy. Staging investigations with head and spinal MRI, CT thorax and neck and abdominal US were negative. Genetic testing on the biopsy specimen showed a BRAF-gene exon-15 mutation (p. V600E), also present in her mother. Her mother had been diagnosed with melanoma at the age of twenty, but during this pregnancy, she suffered a disease recurrence with liver and spleen metastases. Sixteen months after tumor excision, our little patient remains completely well without evidence of disease recurrence or progression. Melanoma is one of few malignancies that can be transmitted to the embryo through the placenta, and though extremely unusual it is a diagnosis that needs to be excluded in certain cases.

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Cite the Article:

Pourtsidis A, Nikita M, Doganis D, Servitzoglou M, Kapetaniou K, Papachristidou S, et al. Transplacental Transmission of Melanotic Tumor in an 8-Month Old Female Infant: A Case Report. Clin Case Rep Int. 2017; 1: 1003.