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.