Primary melanoma of the small bowel revealed by gastrointestinal bleeding: a case report

BACKGROUND: Primary melanoma of the small bowel is extremely rare. Only a limited number of cases have been described in the literature. Mostly, the small intestine is affected by metastatic tumors of other primary lesions, especially cutaneous. CASE PRESENTATION: We report the case of a 75-year-old North African woman with a small bowel melanoma. The diagnosis was made by histological examination and immunohistochemical profile matching after a segmental small bowel resection. Postoperative investigations looking for cutaneous, gastrointestinal or ocular primary lesions found no abnormalities. CONCLUSIONS: The diagnosis of primary small bowel melanoma can be retained although it remains difficult to exclude the possibility of metastatic melanoma.