Abstract
A 41-year-old pregnant African-American woman noticed rapid growth of her cesarean delivery skin scar beginning at 14-week gestation. Skin biopsy, which was performed at 31 weeks, revealed poorly differentiated cutaneous melanoma. At 34 weeks, she underwent repeat cesarean delivery with tumor excision, pelvic lymphadenectomy and abdominal wall reconstruction. Locally advanced disease and anatomical limitations prevented attainment of negative surgical margins. Despite adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation, she died 1 year after diagnosis. Deferring biopsy of a suspicious skin lesion during pregnancy may have delayed the diagnosis of melanoma in this case and possibly affected the long-term outcome.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Lens M, Bataille V . Melanoma in relation to reproductive and hormonal factors in women: current review on controversial issues. Cancer Causes Control 2008; 19: 437–442.
Kabigting FD, Nelson FP, Kauffman CL, Popoveniuc G, Dasanu CA, Alexandrescu DT . Malignant melanoma in African-Americans. Dermatol Online J 2009; 15: 3.
O’Meara AT, Cress R, Xing G, Danielsen B, Smith LH . Malignant melanoma in pregnancy: a population-based evaluation. Cancer 2005; 103: 1217–1226.
Schmidt A, Nanney LB, Boyd AS, King Jr LE, Ellis DL . Oestrogen reception-beta expression in melanocytic lesions. Exp Dermatol 2006; 15: 971–980.
Driscoll MS, Grant-Kels JM . Nevi and melanoma in pregnancy. Dermatol Clin 2006; 24: 199–204.
Committee on Obstetric Practice. Nonobstetric surgery during pregnancy, number 474. Obstet Gynecol 2011; 117 (2 Part 1): 420–421.
Ries LAG, Melberg D, Krapcho M, Stinchcomb DG, Howlader N, Horner M.J et al. SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2005. National Cancer Institute. Available: http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2005/results_merged/sect_16_melanoma.pdf. Accessed on February 21, 2011.
Byrd KM, Wilson DC, Hoyler SS, Peck GL . Advanced presentation of melanoma in African Americans. J Am Acad Dermatol 2004; 50: 21–24.
Karagas MR, Zens MS, Stukel TA, Swerdlow AJ, Rosso S, Osterlind A et al. Pregnancy history and incidence of melanoma in women: a pooled analysis. Cancer Causes Control 2006; 17: 11–19.
Acknowledgements
We thank Fernanda Musa, MD and Amos Grunebaum, MD.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Brandt, J., Fishman, S. & Magro, C. Cutaneous melanoma arising from a cesarean delivery skin scar. J Perinatol 32, 807–809 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2011.172
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2011.172
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Lymphoma Occurring During Pregnancy: Current Diagnostic and Therapeutic Approaches
Current Oncology Reports (2020)