Affiliations 

  • 1 Medical Department, Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Cheras, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Internal Medicine, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kota Bharu, Malaysia
BMJ Case Rep, 2017 Nov 04;2017.
PMID: 29103009 DOI: 10.1136/bcr-2017-221545

Abstract

A middle-aged woman with recurrent malignant melanoma presented initially with massive left pleural effusion. There was a complete obliteration of the left main bronchus on flexible bronchoscopy caused by a mass. Serial cryo-debulking of the tumour was done under rigid bronchoscopy; however, the outcome was not favourable due to the aggressive tumour growth. Vemurafenib was planned after thoracic radiation. She was not keen for the biologics treatment due to financial constraints. We report a case of central airway obstruction due to recurrent aggressive melanoma. More evaluations are needed on the role of interventional pulmonologist for bronchoscopic debulking of this rapidly growing tumour as well as the role of biological agents in treating such cases.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.