Hemorrhoids or malignant melanoma? A case report

Anorectal malignant melanoma (ARMM) is an aggressive and rare tumour. It carries a poor prognosis due to its inherent aggressive systemic activity and advanced disease at the time of diagnosis. Surgery is the mainstay treatment which ranges from wide local excision to abdominoperineal resection (APR). Neither chemotherapy nor radiotherapy has proven benefits in increasing survival rate or reducing loco-regional recurrence. In this case report, we present a 52-year-old male patient with anorectal melanoma. Staging scans showed an anorectal tumour with nodal involvement. He underwent laparoscopic abdominoperineal resection in Hospital Taiping, Malaysia. He was discharged home well postoperatively.