Integrated diagnosis of nevi with severely atypical features and impact of second opinions.

BACKGROUND: A subset of melanocytic proliferations is difficult to classify by dermatopathology alone and their management is challenging. OBJECTIVE: To explore the value of correlation with dermatoscopy and to evaluate the utility of second opinions by additional pathologists. METHODS: For this single center retrospective study we collected 122 lesions that were diagnosed as atypical melanocytic proliferations, we reviewed dermatoscopy and asked two experienced pathologists to reassess the slides independently. RESULTS: For the binary decision of nevus versus melanoma the diagnostic consensus among external pathologists was only moderate (kappa 0.43; 95% CI 0.25-0.61). If ground truth were defined such that both pathologists had to agree on the diagnosis of melanoma, 13.1% of cases would have been diagnosed as melanoma. If one pathologist were sufficient to call it melanoma 29.5% of cases would have been diagnosed as melanoma. In either case, the presence of dermatoscopic white lines was associated with the diagnosis of melanoma. In lesions with peripheral dots and clods, melanoma was not jointly diagnosed by the two pathologists if the patient was younger than 45 years. CONCLUSIONS: A considerable number of atypical melanocytic proliferations may be diagnosed as melanoma if revised by other pathologists. The presence of white lines on dermatoscopy increases the likelihood of revision towards melanoma. Peripheral clods indicate growth but are not a melanoma clue if patients are younger than 45 years.

Folliculotropic mycosis fungoides: Clinical characteristics, treatments, and long-term outcomes of 53 patients in a tertiary hospital.

Folliculotropic mycosis fungoides (FMF) is characterized by a broad clinical spectrum and worse prognosis compared to classical MF. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical characteristics, treatment modalities and long-term outcome and risk factors for progression and survival of FMF patients. We conducted a single-center retrospective study and reviewed 53 patients diagnosed with FMF between 1990 to 2019 in a referral center at Ankara University, Turkey. Regarding to stage at diagnosis, 24 patients (45.3%) had advanced-stage disease (≥IIB). Follicular papules was observed in 66% and alopecia in 49.1% of the cases. Forty-three patients (81.1%) suffered from pruritus. The majority of the patients (92.4%) had at least one systemic therapy. Complete remission was achieved in 24.5% of the patients. The median time of overall survival (OS) was 50 months (range 9-324 months) and 5-year and 10-year OS was 83% and 69%, respectively. Twenty-eight (52.3%) patients progressed to more advanced stages and seven (13.2%) patients died due to MF during the follow-up period. FMF is associated with a progressive course and in most patients, skin-directed therapies were found to be inefficient to control the disease and multiple systemic therapeutic agents were required to control the disease.