Case report. Magnetic resonance features of metastatic melanoma of the temporomandibular joint and mandible.

We report a case of histologically verified melanoma of the nose which presented 2 years after initial radiotherapy with left temporomandibular pain, dysfunction and dental sepsis. Conventional radiography revealed a partially dentate mandible with a destructive lesion involving the left condyle, an ill-defined lesion in the right retromolar region and chronic inflammatory apical root lesions. Since MRI of the nose was done at the initial presentation, it was postulated that MRI could be used to characterize the destructive jaw lesions. The MR features were similar to the original nasal lesion and accepted as proof of diagnosis of metastatic melanoma. A literature review reveals only 37 previous cases of metastasis to the temporomandibular joint with none of involvement by melanoma. The role of MRI in the diagnosis of this lesion is also described for the first time.