Recurrence of malignant melanoma presenting as black-colored pyopneumothorax: a rare entity

oleh: Ganesh Patel, Anil Saxena, Suman Khangarot, Rajendra Prasad Takhar, Dinesh Patel

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre 2017-11-01

Deskripsi

We report a 63-year-old patient with black-colored pus (pyopneumothorax) resulting from an infected pleural effusion associated with metastatic malignant melanoma of the skin. The patient was also positive for Pseudomonas, so the color was unexpected. Although rare, malignant melanoma can present as a black pleural effusion due to the presence of melanocytes in the pleural fluid. Black pleural fluid should raise the suspicion of malignant melanoma. SIMILAR CASES PUBLISHED: Nine cases of black pleural effusion due to different causes have been reported.1,2 Three cases of black pleural effusion due to metastatic malignant melanoma are published.2,6,7