Janny E Lommerts1, Hansje-Eva Teulings2, Khaled Ezzedine3, Nanja van Geel4, Anke Hartmann5, Reinhart Speeckaert4, Phyllis I Spuls2, Albert Wolkerstorfer2, Rosalie M Luiten2, Marcel W Bekkenk2. 1. Netherlands Institute for Pigment Disorders and Department of Dermatology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: j.e.lommerts@amc.nl. 2. Netherlands Institute for Pigment Disorders and Department of Dermatology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 3. Epidémiologie en Dermatologie et Evaluation des Thérapeutiques, Université Paris-Est, Service de Dermatologie, Hôpital Henri Mondor, Paris, France. 4. Department of Dermatology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium. 5. Department of Dermatology, University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Melanoma-associated leukoderma (MAL) is a depigmenting disorder that can occur spontaneously in patients with melanoma. The differences in clinical presentation between MAL and vitiligo are not well defined. This may lead to misdiagnosing MAL as vitiligo, resulting in delayed detection of melanoma. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess whether experts in the field can distinguish between MAL and vitiligo, and to assess if discriminative features can be identified. METHODS: We designed an image comparison study in which 4 experts in the field blindly assessed photographs followed by medical history of 11 patients with MAL and 33 with vitiligo. RESULTS: The assessors misdiagnosed 72.7% of MAL cases and marked 80.0% of them as typical vitiligo. The median age at onset of the leukoderma was higher (55 years, P = .001) in MAL. No discriminative features were found. LIMITATIONS: Sampling bias because of inclusion in tertiary referral center is a limitation. CONCLUSION: The clinical presentation of leukoderma in patients with melanoma resembles that of vitiligo. We propose "melanoma-associated vitiligo" as the more appropriate term for leukoderma in patients with melanoma. Clinicians should be aware that depigmentation in vitiligo can also be caused by melanoma-associated vitiligo and a total body inspection should be performed.
BACKGROUND:Melanoma-associated leukoderma (MAL) is a depigmenting disorder that can occur spontaneously in patients with melanoma. The differences in clinical presentation between MAL and vitiligo are not well defined. This may lead to misdiagnosing MAL as vitiligo, resulting in delayed detection of melanoma. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess whether experts in the field can distinguish between MAL and vitiligo, and to assess if discriminative features can be identified. METHODS: We designed an image comparison study in which 4 experts in the field blindly assessed photographs followed by medical history of 11 patients with MAL and 33 with vitiligo. RESULTS: The assessors misdiagnosed 72.7% of MAL cases and marked 80.0% of them as typical vitiligo. The median age at onset of the leukoderma was higher (55 years, P = .001) in MAL. No discriminative features were found. LIMITATIONS: Sampling bias because of inclusion in tertiary referral center is a limitation. CONCLUSION: The clinical presentation of leukoderma in patients with melanoma resembles that of vitiligo. We propose "melanoma-associated vitiligo" as the more appropriate term for leukoderma in patients with melanoma. Clinicians should be aware that depigmentation in vitiligo can also be caused by melanoma-associated vitiligo and a total body inspection should be performed.