Malignant melanoma arising in melanin-producing medullary thyroid carcinoma

INTRODUCTION: We report a case of malignant melanoma arising in medullary thyroid carcinoma that has not yet been described. PRESENTATION OF CASE: A 66-year-old woman presented with a mass in her thyroid. The resected mass was black in color, and was composed of a mixture of classic medullary thyroid carcinoma and pleomorphic atypical cells containing melanin pigments. The pleomorphic atypical cells were morphologically consistent with malignant melanoma, and expressed Melan-A, HMB-45, and S-100 protein as determined by immunohistochemistry. Some of these cells were also positive for calcitonin and chromogranin A. Although the malignant melanoma metastasized to the lymph nodes, the patient remained free from local recurrence and distant metastasis and the primary malignant melanoma lesion was not identified for up to 11 years after the thyroidectomy. DISCUSSION: 11 melanin-producing MTC cases have been reported to date. In the reported cases, the term “malignant melanoma” was not used, likely because the melanin-containing carcinoma cells were not morphologically consistent with malignant melanoma, but with medullary carcinoma. CONCLUSION: Malignant melanoma arising in MTC may have a favorable prognosis.