Surgery is rarely undertaken for metastatic melanoma in the spleen. To identify indications for surgical treatment, results after splenectomy for metastatic melanoma were analyzed.

A retrospective study in which all patients at the Sydney Melanoma Unit recorded as having splenic metastases between January 1990 and May 2001 were identified. For those who underwent surgery, indications for splenectomy, operative complications, and outcomes were documented.

Splenectomy was performed in 15 patients, and 98 patients were treated conservatively. Indications for surgery were rupture of the spleen (n = 1), discomfort or pain (n = 7), and the spleen as an apparently solitary site of metastasis (n = 7). All seven symptomatic patients were free of pain after recovery from surgery. Postoperative morbidity occurred in two patients (14%) but there was no mortality. Median overall survival after splenectomy was 11 months, with a survival of 23 months for the subgroup of patients treated for a solitary lesion. Two patients who underwent splenectomy were disease free after more than 2 years of followup. Median overall survival of the conservatively treated patients was 4 months, which was statistically shorter than median survival of the patients who underwent splenectomy (p = 0.02).

Splenectomy can provide good palliation for symptomatic patients with melanoma metastases in the spleen. A selected group of patients with solitary splenic metastases can achieve longterm disease-free survival after splenectomy.