YIJOM-3030; No of Pages 6 Please cite this article in press as: Maldonado-Mendoza J, et al. Clinicopathological characterization of primary oral and sinonasal melanoma in a referral centre in Mexico City. . . , Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijom.2014.10.022 Clinical Paper Clinical Pathology Clinicopathological characterization of primary oral and sinonasal melanoma in a referral centre in Mexico City: 2000–2012 J. Maldonado-Mendoza, V. Ramı ´rez-Amador, G. Anaya-Saavedra, M. E. Irigoyen- Camacho, L. Ruı ´z-Godoy, E. Ruı ´z-Garcı ´a, A. Meneses-Garcı ´a: Clinicopathological characterization of primary oral and sinonasal melanoma in a referral centre in Mexico City: 2000–2012. Int. J. Oral Maxillofac. Surg. 2014; xxx: xxx–xxx. # 2014 International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. J. Maldonado-Mendoza 1 , V. Ramı ´rez-Amador 1, * , G. Anaya-Saavedra 1 , M. E. Irigoyen-Camacho 2 , L. Ruı ´z-Godoy 3 , E. Ruı ´z-Garcı ´a 4 , A. Meneses-Garcı ´a 4 1 Oral Pathology and Medicine Postgraduate Program, Universidad Auto ´ noma Metropolitana-Xochimilco, Mexico City, Mexico; 2 Health Care Department, Universidad Auto ´ noma Metropolitana- Xochimilco, Mexico City, Mexico; 3 Tumour Bank, Instituto Nacional de Cancerologı ´a, Mexico City, Mexico; 4 Translational Research Laboratory, Instituto Nacional de Cancerologı ´a, Mexico City, Mexico Abstract. In Mexico, there have been few studies on primary oral and sinonasal melanoma, an aggressive neoplasm with a low survival rate and few therapeutic alternatives. Further, there is limited information about its clinical and histopathological characteristics. The aim of this retrospective study was to describe the clinicopathological profile of these tumours in patients attending a major oncology reference centre in Mexico City over a 12-year period. Demographic and clinical data were obtained from the clinical charts, and histopathological features were evaluated. x 2 , Fisher’s exact, and Mann–Whitney U-tests were used for analysis; significance was set at P < 0.05. Thirty-three cases were studied (73% sinonasal melanoma (SNM) and 27% oral melanoma (OM)); 58% were female and the median age was 66 (Q 1 –Q 3 55.5–75) years. Compared with OM patients, SNM patients had a shorter time to diagnosis (16.7 vs. 11.7 months, P = 0.022), were identified at earlier stages (33.3% vs. 58.3%, P = 0.010), and all presented symptoms (66.7% vs. 100%, P = 0.015). All samples showed vertical growth and 96.9% exhibited pleomorphism. A higher proportion of cases with pleomorphism developed metastases at follow-up than those without (60% vs. 12.5%, P = 0.026). The present study provides valuable information that could form the basis of future studies in the search for advanced therapy modalities. Keywords: cancer; melanoma; oral; sinonasal. Accepted for publication 29 October 2014 Int. J. Oral Maxillofac. Surg. 2014; xxx: xxx–xxx http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijom.2014.10.022, available online at http://www.sciencedirect.com 0901-5027/000001+06 # 2014 International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.