Anorectal melanoma

Anorectal melanoma is a rare and often aggressive malignancy of the anal canal that can be challenging to diagnose. After diagnosis, the main treatment is surgical resection. The current recommendations are to offer patients wide local excision whenever possible. However, there are situations where abdominoperineal resection is more appropriate. Other treatment options such as sentinel lymph node biopsy and adjuvant chemotherapy or radiation are also sometimes advised, but there is not substantial data to support this. Overall, there is a strong association of advanced disease and poor prognosis.