BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic data on melanoma reveal a considerable increase in incidence, especially of the early forms (melanoma in situ and early invasive melanoma), but the mortality rates are relatively stable. These data suggest the hypothesis of the existence of a melanoma with less aggressive biological behaviour. This hypothesis is, however, hard to be proven if the assumption is true that more and less aggressive melanomas very often exhibit overlapping clinical and histopathologic features. Digital dermoscopic imaging techniques permit today a detailed documentation of lesions over time and, therefore, represent an optimal tool to disclose the natural evolution of a given lesion. We present five case of slow-growing melanomas observed during a long-term period of follow-up. MAIN OBSERVATION: Five pigmented skin lesions from five patients with multiple atypical melanocytic nevi were examined at the baseline consultation and digital pictures were taken for monitoring purposes. The lesions have been followed-up for a long time because of the absence of significant changes over time. After a variable period of follow-up (1 to 10 years) all lesions were finally removed and subsequent histopathologic examination revealed early stage melanoma in all cases. CONCLUSION: Dermoscopy and digital follow up might be the key factors to improve the knowledge about the natural evolution of nevi and melanoma and the spectrum of undefined melanocytic proliferations.
BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic data on melanoma reveal a considerable increase in incidence, especially of the early forms (melanoma in situ and early invasive melanoma), but the mortality rates are relatively stable. These data suggest the hypothesis of the existence of a melanoma with less aggressive biological behaviour. This hypothesis is, however, hard to be proven if the assumption is true that more and less aggressive melanomas very often exhibit overlapping clinical and histopathologic features. Digital dermoscopic imaging techniques permit today a detailed documentation of lesions over time and, therefore, represent an optimal tool to disclose the natural evolution of a given lesion. We present five case of slow-growing melanomas observed during a long-term period of follow-up. MAIN OBSERVATION: Five pigmented skin lesions from five patients with multiple atypical melanocytic nevi were examined at the baseline consultation and digital pictures were taken for monitoring purposes. The lesions have been followed-up for a long time because of the absence of significant changes over time. After a variable period of follow-up (1 to 10 years) all lesions were finally removed and subsequent histopathologic examination revealed early stage melanoma in all cases. CONCLUSION: Dermoscopy and digital follow up might be the key factors to improve the knowledge about the natural evolution of nevi and melanoma and the spectrum of undefined melanocytic proliferations.
Authors: Giuseppe Argenziano; H Peter Soyer; Sergio Chimenti; Renato Talamini; Rosamaria Corona; Francesco Sera; Michael Binder; Lorenzo Cerroni; Gaetano De Rosa; Gerardo Ferrara; Rainer Hofmann-Wellenhof; Michael Landthaler; Scott W Menzies; Hubert Pehamberger; Domenico Piccolo; Harold S Rabinovitz; Roman Schiffner; Stefania Staibano; Wilhelm Stolz; Igor Bartenjev; Andreas Blum; Ralph Braun; Horacio Cabo; Paolo Carli; Vincenzo De Giorgi; Matthew G Fleming; James M Grichnik; Caron M Grin; Allan C Halpern; Robert Johr; Brian Katz; Robert O Kenet; Harald Kittler; Jürgen Kreusch; Josep Malvehy; Giampiero Mazzocchetti; Margaret Oliviero; Fezal Ozdemir; Ketty Peris; Roberto Perotti; Ana Perusquia; Maria Antonietta Pizzichetta; Susana Puig; Babar Rao; Pietro Rubegni; Toshiaki Saida; Massimiliano Scalvenzi; Stefania Seidenari; Ignazio Stanganelli; Masaru Tanaka; Karin Westerhoff; Ingrid H Wolf; Otto Braun-Falco; Helmut Kerl; Takeji Nishikawa; Klaus Wolff; Alfred W Kopf Journal: J Am Acad Dermatol Date: 2003-05 Impact factor: 11.527