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Seasonal variation in dysplastic naevi
Author(s) -
Welsch M.,
Marszalek R.,
Young M.,
Zhu J.,
Clarke L.,
Helm K.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
clinical and experimental dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.587
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1365-2230
pISSN - 0307-6938
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2230.2012.04354.x
Subject(s) - dysplasia , medicine , atypia , grading (engineering) , dysplastic nevus , incidence (geometry) , dermatology , cohort , significant difference , pathology , melanoma , nevus , biology , ecology , physics , cancer research , optics
Summary There is a relationship between sunlight and the development of melanocytic neoplasms. Because the incidence and excision of melanocytic neoplasms varies according to season, we sought to determine if dysplasia and/or intraepidermal melanocytic expression differed in a cohort of dysplastic naevi (DN) removed in January compared with a similar cohort removed in August. The DN were graded based on the degree of dysplasia, and the number of intraepidermal melanocytes were counted after immunohistochemical staining with HMB‐45 and Melan‐A. There was no seasonal difference in the grading of the dysplastic naevi in either season ( P = 0.08). Comparing 85 cases from August and 86 from January, there was a larger number of Melan‐A‐positive melanocytes in the August samples ( P < 0.02), and a larger number of HMB‐45‐positive melanocytes in January ( P < 0.01). This difference may be related to seasonal variations such as exposure to ultraviolet light exposure; however, there was no difference between the two groups in the degree of atypia seen.