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Clinical and dermoscopic characteristics of amelanotic melanomas that are not of the nodular subtype
Author(s) -
Jaimes N.,
Braun R.P.,
Thomas L.,
Marghoob A.A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of the european academy of dermatology and venereology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.655
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1468-3083
pISSN - 0926-9959
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-3083.2011.04122.x
Subject(s) - amelanotic melanoma , medicine , dermatology , differential diagnosis , melanoma , pathology , clinical diagnosis , clinical psychology , cancer research
Abstract Background Amelanotic melanomas remain challenging to diagnose. Objective To analyze and describe the clinical and dermoscopic characteristics of amelanotic melanomas that are not of the nodular subtype. Patients/Methods We conducted a retrospective review of 20 consecutively diagnosed amelanotic melanomas. The clinical and dermoscopic images of pathologically confirmed amelanotic melanomas that were not of the nodular subtype were analyzed. In addition, the clinical diagnosis and the reasons why these lesions were biopsied were examined. Results All 20 amelanotic melanomas were erythematous and lacked any of the clinical ABCD features commonly attributed to melanoma. The lesions appeared clinically to be relatively symmetric with regular borders and manifesting a circular to oval morphology. Dermoscopically, all lesions manifested polymorphous vascular pattern. Conclusions Amelanotic melanomas that are not of the nodular subtype often present as clinically symmetric erythematous lesions. Therefore, it is important to consider AMs in the differential diagnosis of isolated and persistent erythematous outlier lesions, even if they are symmetric in appearance. Additionally, the presence of a polymorphous vascular pattern seen with dermoscopy can facilitate in correctly identifying these melanomas.