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A large pigmented lesion mimicking malignant melanoma
Author(s) -
Brinca A.,
Teixeira V.,
Gonçalo M.,
Tellechea O.
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.1365-2230.2012.04464.x
Subject(s) - medicine , melanoma , dermis , biopsy , nodule (geology) , pathology , skin biopsy , lesion , dermatology , parakeratosis , biology , paleontology , cancer research
An 88-year-old woman was admitted with a hugebilateral pulmonary embolism and acute renal failure.On physical examination, a well-dened irregularlypigmented plaque 20 · 40 mm with black, brown andpink hues and an irregular border was noticed over theumbilicus (Fig. 1). A clinical diagnosis of malignantmelanoma (MM) was suggested, and surgical excisionplanned. However, the patient’s prognosis was poor; shewas very dyspnoeic, with oxygen saturation levels of< 75%, despite the treatment for pulmonary embolism,thus we chose to perform a biopsy to conrm thediagnosis, with the intention to proceed to treatmentonce the patient recovered from the embolism.