An incidental finding of a nodal recurrence of cutaneous malignant melanoma after a 45-year disease-free period.

We report the case of an 84-year-old woman who had a nodal recurrence of melanoma 45 years after the primary diagnosis of an extremity cutaneous melanoma. It is believed to be the longest disease-free latency period reported between primary melanoma diagnosis and recurrence to date. Late recurrences of melanoma are rare and recurrence after four decades extremely rare. This article suggests melanoma is a disease with a potentially lifelong risk of recurrence and thus clinicians and patients must be vigilant and aware of this risk, particularly if late recurrences are to be recognised early and management optimised. 2014 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.