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©The Author(s) 2026. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 28, 2026; 32(8): 114571
Published online Feb 28, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i8.114571
Published online Feb 28, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i8.114571
Primary melanoma of the gastrointestinal tract
Paola De Nardi, Pierpaolo Sileri, Department of Colorectal Surgery, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan 20132, Italy
Stefania Guida, Franco Rongioletti, Dermatology Clinic, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Insti
Stefania Guida, Franco Rongioletti, Santo Raffaele Mercuri, Arturo Chiti, Pierpaolo Sileri, Vincenzo Russo, Vita-Salute University San Raffaele, Milan 20132, Italy
Giuseppe Damiano, Silvia Teresa Riva, Vincenzo Russo, Immuno-Biotherapy of Melanoma and Solid Tumors Unit, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Department of Medical Oncology, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan 20132, Italy
Nathalie Rizzo, Department of Pathology, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan 20132, Italy
Ana Maria Samanes Gajate, Arturo Chiti, Department of Nuclear Medicine, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan 20132, Italy
Giovanni Paolino, Santo Raffaele Mercuri, Unit of Dermatology and Cosmetology, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan 20132, Italy
Michele Colombo, Department of Radiology, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan 20132, Italy
Roberta Tummineri, Department of Radiotherapy, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan 20132, Italy
Co-first authors: Paola De Nardi and Stefania Guida.
Author contributions: De Nardi P and Guida S contributed equally to this manuscript and are co-first authors. De Nardi P conceptualised and designed the study; De Nardi P, Guida S, Damiano G, Rizzo N, Samanes Gajate AM, and Russo V drafted the original manuscript; Guida S, Damiano G, Rizzo N, Samanes Gajate AM, and Russo V conducted the literature review and drafted the original manuscript; Riva ST, Paolino G, Colombo M, Tummineri R, Rongioletti F, Mercuri SR, Chiti A, and Sileri P supervised, and made critical revisions; and all authors prepared the draft and approved the submitted version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Paola De Nardi, MD, FASCRS, Department of Colorectal Surgery, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Via Olgettina 60, Milan 20132, Italy.
Received: September 25, 2025
Revised: November 19, 2025
Accepted: January 4, 2026
Published online: February 28, 2026
Processing time: 140 Days and 15 Hours
Revised: November 19, 2025
Accepted: January 4, 2026
Published online: February 28, 2026
Processing time: 140 Days and 15 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Gastrointestinal primary melanomas are very rare, with literature comprised of isolated case reports and small series. Compared with cutaneous melanoma, they display distinct molecular profiles, more aggressive clinical behavior, poorer prognoses with less favorable response to systemic therapy. These tumors have been poorly researched, and, because of their rarity, development of standardized management has been delayed. The present review shows all the relevant domains, including epidemiology, etiology, molecular features, diagnosis, and therapy, offering a general profile of this challenging and poorly studied disease.