Is mitotic rate still useful in the management of patients with thin melanoma?

BACKGROUND: T1 melanoma substaging was recently modified by the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC). Although sentinel lymph node (SLN) positivity is the most important prognostic factor in melanoma, there is a lack of consensus on whether SLN biopsy should be performed in patients with thin melanoma (≤1 mm). OBJECTIVE: The main aim of this study was to investigate predictors of SLN positivity in patients with thin melanoma, with a special emphasis on mitotic rate. A secondary aim was to evaluate survival in this group of patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective multicenter observational study with analysis of age, sex, tumour location, thickness, mitotic rate, regression and microscopic satellites. Predictive factors were identified using a classification and regression tree (CART) approach. Melanoma-specific survival according to SLN status was estimated using Kaplan-Meier curves. RESULTS: We analysed 203 patients with a melanoma ≤1 mm. Using the new AJCC staging criteria, the CART algorithm identified a 7.5% likelihood of SLN positivity in T1a patients. In the case of T1b melanoma, there was a 14.3% likelihood of SLN positivity in patients with a mitotic rate >1 mitosis/mm2 and a 3.2% likelihood in those with ≤1 mitoses/mm2 . None of the patients with T1b disease who had ≤1 mitoses/mm2 and regression had SLN positivity. In T1b patients, 5-year melanoma-specific survival was 98.7% in the SLN-negative group and 75% in the SLN-positive group (P = 0.05). When stratified by mitotic rate, survival was 100% for patients with a mitotic rate of ≤1 mitoses/mm2 and 91.4% for those with >1 mitosis/mm2 (P = 0.022). There were no deaths in the T1a subgroup. CONCLUSIONS: Sentinel lymph node metastasis was less common in patients with T1b melanoma who had a mitotic rate of ≤1 mitoses/mm2 . Performance of SLN biopsy should be carefully considered in this subgroup of patients, particularly considering the good prognosis.

Extrafacial Lentigo Maligna: A Report on 14 Cases and a Review of the Literature. / Lentigo maligno extrafacial. Serie de 14 casos y revisión de la literatura.

Lentigo maligna is the most common form of in situ melanoma. It is most often found on the head and neck, and its clinical and dermoscopic features in this location have been extensively described in the literature. We present a series of 14 patients diagnosed with extrafacial lentigo maligna and lentigo maligna melanoma at Hospital General de Valencia and Hospital de Manacor in Spain, and describe the clinical, dermoscopic, and histologic features observed. Most of the melanomas were located on the upper limbs; the next most common locations were the trunk and the lower limbs. The dermoscopic patterns were consistent with facial lentigo maligna and superficial spreading melanoma. Extrafacial lentigo maligna is uncommon. It has similar clinical and histologic features to facial lentigo, but dermoscopy may show a mix of patterns typically seen in lentigo maligna and superficial spreading melanoma. This difference in dermoscopic features is essentially due to anatomical differences between skin on the face and on other parts of the body.

[Tufted angiomas in childhood: A series of 9 cases and a literature review]. / Angiomas en penacho en la infancia. Serie de 9 casos y revisión de la literatura.

INTRODUCTION: Tufted angioma (TA) is a rare benign vascular tumor that mostly appears during infancy or early childhood, although there are cases reported in adults. Clinical presentation and evolution of TA can vary. Histologically, it takes on a classic appearance of vascular tufts ("cannon ball" like appearance). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective observational study was conducted that included all patients diagnosed with TA at our center in the last 20 years. RESULTS: A series of 9 cases of tufted angioma in childhood are presented, 77.7% of which were congenital. This represents a frequency higher than previously described. Spontaneous regression was observed in 55.5% of the cases, and was more frequent in the congenital TA group. Unlike other TA series reported in the literature, a higher proportion of patients with spontaneous regression was observed in this series, with a higher prevalence in females (6 out of 9 children) and predominantly located in the upper limbs. None of our patients had Kasabach-Merritt phenomenon. CONCLUSIONS: There are many ways of treating TA, but none are uniformly effective. Given the high rate of spontaneous regression in congenital or early TA, we suggest that, in the absence of other complications, monitoring would be a good option for management.

Sentinel lymph node status in melanoma: prognostic value in a tertiary hospital and correlation with mitotic activity.

BACKGROUND: The prognostic value of sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy findings and mitotic activity in melanoma has been confirmed in the literature, but the relation between them has not been well established. OBJECTIVES: The main objective was to describe and analyze the correlation between SLN biopsy results and the mitotic rate in patients treated for melanoma in our hospital. METHODS: A total of 139 consecutive patients who underwent SLN biopsy between May 2001 and May 2009 were included. The relation between the mitotic rate and SLN status was analyzed with the χ(2) test and the Fischer exact test. RESULTS: The correlation between the 2 variables was nonsignificant (P =.071) in the patient series overall, but a significant association was found in the subgroup of patients with tumors of Breslow thickness between 1 and 4mm (P =.034). The likelihood (odds ratio) of SLN positivity with a mitotic rate of less than 1 mitosis/mm2 in this subgroup was 0.838 (95% CI, 0.758-0.926). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support use of the mitotic rate to predict SLN status in melanoma tumors of intermediate thickness. Our study also shows the need for further investigation of the relation between these 2 variables in thin and thick tumors.

[Atypical lentiginous nevus: a clinical and histopathologic study of 14 cases]. / Nevus lentiginoso atípico. Estudio clínico-patológico de 14 casos.

BACKGROUND: Atypical lentiginous nevus (of the elderly) is a peculiar form of dysplastic nevus. Clinically, this condition can resemble malignant melanoma and histologically, it has a lentiginous pattern with variable degrees of atypia and an absence of dermal nests. These features may lead to an erroneous diagnosis of lentigo maligna melanoma or lentiginous melanoma. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We reviewed 14 cases of atypical lentiginous nevus diagnosed at the dermatology department of Hospital General de Valencia in Valencia, Spain between December 2007 and March 2009. We studied the clinical and histopathologic features of the lesions after hematoxylin-eosin, Melan-A, and Ki-67 staining and compared our results to data reported in the literature. RESULTS: Four (28%) of the 14 patients (7 men, 7 women) were under 50 years of age. Clinically, most of the lesions (8/14) resembled atypical nevi and they were all located on the back. Histologically, they all had irregular lentiginous epidermal hyperplasia, with a proliferation of individual melanocytes only in the basal layer of the epidermis and an absence of dermal nests. Focal upward migration of melanocytes into the epidermis was present in just 4 cases. All the lesions had cellular atypia, which was moderate in 85% of cases. The Ki-67 proliferation index was low (<5%) in all the lesions analyzed. CONCLUSIONS: Atypical lentiginous nevi, which can be classified as atypical pigmented lesions with a lentiginous pattern, may clinically and histologically resemble melanoma. Our findings support earlier reports that both clinical and histologic findings may suggest a diagnosis of dysplastic nevus. All of the patients in our series are healthy and free of recurrence after 18 months or longer.

Primary soft tissue lymphoma associated with mesenteric lipodystrophy.

Skin involvement in non-Hodgkin lymphoma is usually specific and may precede systemic manifestations of the disease by months or even years. We report the case of a man with an inguinal plaque lesion of 1 year's evolution, diagnosed as polymorphous lymphoplasmocytoid lymphoma (immunocytoma). The evaluation of spread only revealed mesenteric lipodystrophy, whose association with lymphoid processes is more common than would be expected.

[Kaposi sarcoma and Hodgkin disease]. / Sarcoma de Kaposi y enfermedad de Hodgkin.

Kaposi's sarcoma is frequently associated to other primary neoplasias, especially those arising from mononuclear-phagocytic system. A case of Kaposi's sarcoma associated to Hodgkin's disease is presented.

[Plasma exchange in dermatology: apropos of a case of dermatomyositis]. / Recambio plasmático en dermatología: a propósito de un caso de dermatomiositis.

We present a 45 years old male with dermatomyositis refractory to eight months of standard treatment who responded to plasma exchange. The efficacy of the procedure is estimated from clinical follow-up (increase in strength) and serum creatine-kinase activity (decrease from 3,380 to 44 u/ml.) after five sessions of plasma exchange. The therapeutic indications for PE are reviewed in dermatological diseases with emphasis on cases where the response to steroids or cytotoxic drugs is inadequate.