An Ear with Multiple Vascular Lesions: Does Dermoscopy Offer Any Hints?

Cutaneous lesions of vascular origin are normally easily diagnosed, both clinically and dermoscopically. However, Kaposi's sarcoma can trigger difficulties in making a correct preoperative diagnosis. Although dermoscopic pictures are not pathognomonic for diagnosing Kaposi's sarcoma, dermoscopic analysis could be a useful complement to a differential diagnosis of nodular pigmented cutaneous lesions. Here, we discuss two clinical cases and analyze the primary dermoscopic features of Kaposi's sarcoma, evaluating the potential utility of this method for differential diagnosis.

Clinical and Dermoscopic Features of Vulvar Melanosis Over the Last 20 Years.

Importance: Vulvar melanosis is a common pigmentary change that accounts for most pigmented vulvar lesions. It presents as single or multiple asymptomatic macules or patches of varying size and color that may be asymmetric with poorly defined borders. The differential diagnosis of melanocytic lesions includes melanoma, which creates anxiety for patients and the physicians who diagnose the condition and treat the patients. Objective: To evaluate the clinical and dermoscopic features of vulvar melanosis and their changes over time. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this cohort study, patients with vulvar melanosis were recruited and followed up in the Department of Dermatology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy, between January 1, 1998, and June 30, 2019. Data on patient characteristics and on both the clinical and dermoscopic features of the vulvar lesions were collected. Each lesion was photographed clinically and dermoscopically at initial evaluation and at annual follow-up visits. Main Outcomes and Measures: The clinical, dermoscopic, and histopathologic features of vulvar melanosis and their changes over time. Results: This cohort study included 129 women (mean age at diagnosis, 46 years [range, 19-83 years]) with vulvar melanosis. A total of 87 patients (67%) with vulvar melanotic lesions were premenopausal, and 84 patients (65%) had received some type of hormone therapy. The most frequent location for vulvar melanosis was the labia minora (55 [43%]), followed by the labia majora (33 [26%]). In 39 of 129 cases (30%), the lesions increased in size and changed color after initial evaluation but ultimately stabilized. No malignant evolution was documented in any patient during a median follow-up of 13 years (range, 5-20 years). Conclusions and Relevance: This study suggests that vulvar melanosis was a benign entity, and changes in lesions over time did not signify malignant transformation. An association between hormonal status and vulvar melanosis may be hypothesized.

The use of cisplatin electrochemotherapy in nonmelanoma skin cancers: A single-center study.

Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is a well-known nonconventional skin cancer ablative method that was shown to be safe and effective for treating both locoregional disease spreading and disseminated cutaneous and subcutaneous lesions from different types of cancer. The most common medications used are bleomycin and cisplatin. In the last years many studies were performed on ECT, lead it to be a valid therapeutic option in many international guidelines. Nevertheless, there are still no clear indications regarding timing of its use. The main aim of this study was first to assess the safety and effectiveness of intralesional cisplatin ECT for treating different types of nonmelanoma skin cancer in a group of eligible patients. The second endpoint was to assess patients' tolerability and symptoms improvement through the treatment. A single-center prospective study was performed. Patients with squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, or skin metastases were selected during 1 month. The ideal setting was the presence of two or three lesions with a maximum diameter of 2 cm. Both primary, recurrent, and metastatic lesions were included. Before and 8 weeks after treatment, all patients were evaluated to assess the number, measurement, and anatomical site of skin lesions using photography and metric notation. The medical device for membrane electroporation was the CLINIPORATOR EPS02 model. The cisplatin concentration was at least 1 mg/mL. The dose for each single lesion was calculated based on its volume, as is the standard procedure for ECT. Local or systemic adverse events and changes in symptoms were evaluated with a questionnaire based on a visual analog scale that was administrated before and after ECT. Eight patients with a total of 18 lesions underwent the procedure (six men and two women). Four out of eight (50%) patients had a complete response to the treatment. However, all eight patients had an overall tumor response (100%), experiencing an improvement in symptoms including less pain and bleeding from the tumor. Our study clearly show that ECT with intralesional cisplatin is a valuable and safety procedure for nonmelanoma skin cancer and cutaneous tumor metastasis. ECT with cisplatin was able to achieve a good local disease control leading to complete response in an half of cases. The results were stable after 1 year of follow-up. The outer ear area displayed a really good response, due to both ear's anatomical configuration and intralesional cisplatin pharmacological characteristics.

Tuscan Consensus on the diagnosis, treatment and follow up of adult atopic dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is an inflammatory disease with a chronic-relapsing course that is intensely itchy. A correct diagnosis of AD in adults and consequently appropriate clinical therapeutic management is a critical issue for extreme clinical expression heterogeneity and various grades of disease severity. In order to ensure high levels of care and standardization of clinical therapeutic management of Adult AD, the decision was taken to create an AD Tuscan Consensus Group (the Group), to work on and validate a consensus based regional clinical-therapeutic management model. The aims of the Group were to find agreement on the criteria for diagnosis, scoring of severity, multidisciplinary approach and treatment of adult atopic dermatitis and to create an easier way for patients to access specialized dermatology outpatient services and importantly to reduce waiting lists and costs related to the management of AD. The Tuscan Consensus Group adopted a simplified Delphi method, in three principal steps: 1) literature metanalysis and critical review of patient's clinical experience to identify the main areas considered questionable or uncertain; 2) discussion of those areas requiring consensus and statement definition through four different sub-committees (diagnosis, severity evaluation, scoring and comorbidities); 3) a consensus based simplified process with final approval of each statement by plenary vote with approval >80% of the participants. The Group here presents and discusses the consensus based recommendation statements on adult atopic dermatitis.

A clinical, pathological and immunohistochemical series of 9 cases of primary cutaneous apocrine carcinomas of the head and neck.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Primary cutaneous apocrine carcinoma is a rare malignant adnexal skin tumour that can recur locally, spread to regional lymph nodes and metastatize to visceral organs. Wide dissemination and death from disease are much less common. The axilla is the most common site of presentation. It is infrequently reported in the head and neck region. METHODS: All cases diagnosed as primary cutaneous apocrine carcinoma of the head and neck were retrospectively collected from the archives of the Division of Pathological Anatomy, University of Florence from 1996 to 2016. There was no history or clinical evidence of breast cancer. Clinical data and follow-up were collected by the clinicians. RESULTS: Nine cases were found, with a mean age of 76 years, ranging in size between 0.3 and 3.5 cm. Clinically, they were frequently mistaken for basal cell carcinomas. Histopathologically, all the tumours showed decapitation secretion, a tubular, solid or mixed (tubulo-papillary and solid-tubular) growth pattern and were predominantly classified as grade 2 tumours. GCDFP-15 and hormone receptors were variably expressed. HER2 and podoplanin were negative in all cases. In one case, spreading to regional lymph nodes was observed. No cases were associated with death due to the disease. CONCLUSION: As immunohistochemical analysis lacks specificity in distinguishing primary cutaneous apocrine carcinoma from a cutaneous metastasis of breast carcinoma, detailed clinical history, breast examination, adequate treatment and follow-up are necessary to confirm a diagnosis of primary cutaneous apocrine carcinoma.

Nevi and Breslow thickness in melanoma: sex differences?

A large body of evidence in the scientific literature suggests that the numbers of common and atypical nevi are strong, independent risk factors for the occurrence of cutaneous malignant melanoma. Furthermore, some studies recently found an association between high nevus counts and an improved melanoma prognosis. The aim of this study was to investigate a possible relationship between the number of common and atypical nevi and melanoma prognostic factors. We carried out a retrospective analysis of patients with a histopathologically confirmed diagnosis of melanoma. These patients were treated at the Dermatology Clinic of the University of Florence from January 2000 to December 2013. The main analysis investigated the association of common and atypical nevi with Breslow thickness and ulceration. The number of nevi was investigated as a continuous variable and a categorical variable considering the median number of common nevi, given the skewness of the distribution of common nevi. We analyzed 818 melanoma patients treated from January 2000 to December 2013. We found a sex and nevi interaction: among women, thick melanomas occur more frequently in patients with a low common nevi count (<10); no association was found in men. This sex and nevi interaction was also found considering the association with very thick melanomas (Breslow > 4 mm). Moreover, the presence of an increasing number of atypical nevi was associated with increased risk of ulceration in both sexes. These data provide new perspectives in the differential sex-related biological behavior of melanoma among females and males.

Appearance of cutaneous melanoma and subcutaneous metastases in metastatic gastric carcinoma undergoing chemotherapy with oral 5-fluorouracil prodrug.

Metastatic skin lesions of gastric cancers usually appear as nonspecific, firm, and hyperpigmented nodules. However, they occasionally present as unusual skin manifestations that mimic other skin disorders. We describe a case of multiple cutaneous metastases from gastric cancer resembling sebaceous cysts with a synchronous melanoma, in a patient after fluoropyrimidine-based systemic chemotherapy. Melanoma occurring as a second cancer has been recognized in patients having undergone previous chemotherapy or radiation for another cancer. We can assume that the capecitabine-based chemotherapy may have played a role in the development of the melanocytic neoplasm. Our observation adds extra evidence to the link between fluoropyrimidine-based immunosuppression and the induction of melanocytes' proliferation and transformation. For these reasons, it is advisable to require dermatological checkups for patients undergoing chemotherapy treatments in order to identify suspicious melanocytic lesions as soon as possible.

Evaluation of the liquid biopsy for the detection of BRAFV600E mutation in metastatic melanoma patients.

BACKGROUND: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating cell free DNA (ccfDNA) represent a liquid biopsy of a tumor allowing real time disease monitoring especially in advanced stages of cancer, but their analysis is technically challenging. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of two different technical approaches to detect the BRAFV600E mutation in the liquid biopsy of 20 metastatic melanoma patients by using both the enriched CTC fraction and circulating ccfDNA from the same blood sample. METHODS: We detected CTCs by a filtration method in 20 metastatic melanoma patients and detected the BRAFV600E variant on CTCs and ccfDNA by an allele-specific qPCR assay; the mutated samples were confirmed by ICE-COLD PCR followed by Sanger sequencing. RESULTS: We found CTCs in 70% of the samples, and identified the BRAFV600E variant on CTCs. We correlated the results with those obtained on ccfDNA from the same blood draw. We found some discordant results between CTCs and ccfDNA. CONCLUSIONS: Our results underline the importance of investigating both CTCs and ccfDNA in a liquid biopsy approach to melanoma patients.

Fluorescence-advanced videodermatoscopy: A promising and potential technique for the in vivo evaluation of vitiligo.

Fluorescence advanced videodermatoscopy (FAV) has been proposed recently to be a new, noninvasive method for in vivo skin examination at high magnification. The working principle underlying FAV relates to the ability of endogenous molecules to absorb specific wavelengths and emit fluorescence. Herein we report our experience with FAV in the study of active, non-segmental vitiligo treated with narrowband UVB. Our findings indicate that FAV has the potential for application in the clinical follow-up, disease prognosis, and therapeutic monitoring of vitiligo.

Clinical and Dermoscopic Features of Lichenoid Keratosis: A Retrospective Case Study.

BACKGROUND: Lichenoid keratosis is a benign cutaneous lesion exhibiting many clinical faces and different dermoscopic features. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine the pattern of different clinical subtypes of lichenoid keratosis and to establish whether there is any correlation between the clinical variants of lichenoid keratosis and their dermoscopic appearance. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records and clinical database of patients who had received a histological diagnosis of lichenoid keratosis. Based on the literature review and the clinical-dermoscopic features of lichenoid keratosis, we divided the lesions into 6 clinical subtypes to evaluate potential correlations between clinical and dermoscopic features in all subtypes. RESULTS: Fifty-one lesions were included in this clinical study. Preoperatively, only 1.9% of cases were clinically diagnosed as lichenoid keratosis, and the most common misdiagnosis was basal cell carcinoma (52.9%). We identified 6 subtypes of lichenoid keratosis and their corresponding dermoscopic features and clues. CONCLUSION: Since lichenoid keratosis has no pathognomonic dermoscopic clues and it is commonly misdiagnosed as malignant skin neoplasms, such as basal cell carcinoma and melanoma, improving the knowledge of both clinical and dermoscopic variability of lichenoid keratosis may help dermatologists to reduce unnecessary surgery and to reduce health care spending.

Sun-Protection Behavior, Pubertal Development and Menarche: Factors Influencing the Melanocytic Nevi Development-The Results of an Observational Study of 1,512 Children.

Observational studies consistently show that melanocytic nevus prevalence increases with age and that phenotypic traits are significantly associated with nevus count in children. An observational study of 1,512 children and adolescents from 2010 to 2013 was conducted. Study dermatologists counted the full body, arm, and facial nevi of each participant. Children and their parents were asked to complete a survey to gather data on personal characteristics, pubertal development, and early-life sun exposure. The main aim of the study was to establish pediatric nevus prevalence and its relationship with age, phenotype, sex, menarche, early-life sun exposure, and sun-protection behaviors. Females had a significantly lower nevus count compared with males, but this sex-related difference was significantly modified by menarche. Sun exposure and sun-protection habits were all significantly associated with nevus count; in particular, children who used sunscreen with a sun-protection factor > 30 had a lower nevus count compared with sun-protection factor ≤ 30 sunscreen users. This study shows that sex, menarche status, and sun-protection practices significantly influence nevus count in this pediatric population.

Clinical and dermoscopic features of truly amelanotic plantar melanoma.

Currently, there are no specific clinical and dermoscopic features for diagnosing truly amelanotic plantar melanoma (TAPM). The present study aimed to investigate the dermoscopic features of all clinical variants of TAMPS and to evaluate their histopathological correlations. A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data was carried out during a 10-year period (2003-2013). We analyzed the clinical data of 1321 patients, who had received a histological diagnosis of melanoma at the Melanoma Unit of the University of Florence. We selected the clinical and dermoscopic images of TAPMs and analyzed the presence of dermoscopic parameters. Incorrect preoperative diagnoses were analyzed to highlight peculiar dermoscopic features of pinkish plantar melanomas, the clinical diagnosis of which is extremely challenging for the dermatologist. Of all 1321 patients, 29 (24%) had TAPMs. Importantly, only 20.7% of patients with TAPMs had a correct preoperative diagnosis of suspicious melanocytic lesion. On the basis of the initial misdiagnosis, TAPMs were categorized as eczema-like, verruca-like, angioma-like lesions. Dermoscopically, all TAPMs showed the presence of a well-defined 'erythematous homogeneous area' with an atypical polymorphous vascular pattern with dotted, globular, and glomerular vessels. Our study highlights a crucial dermoscopic feature of TAPMs, the 'erythematous homogeneous area' that is characteristic of the plantar region, and, to our knowledge and experience, has not been described in nonacral amelanotic melanomas.

Role of BMI and hormone therapy in melanoma risk: a case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Currently, the association between body mass index (BMI) and hormone therapies and Cutaneous Melanoma (CM) development is strongly debated. This study was carried out to assess the association between BMI, hormone therapies, and CM risk. METHODS: The present study is a hospital-based case-control study with 605 consecutive CM patients and 592 controls treated for non-neoplastic conditions at the Department of Dermatology in Florence. The associations of melanoma risk with BMI and hormone therapies were assessed performing unconditional logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals, adjusting for potential confounders. RESULTS: We found a significant interaction of BMI with age (P < 0.0001): being overweight significantly increased CM risk among individuals less than 50 years old (OR = 1.85 with 95% CI 1.14-2.94), whereas the association was not significant for individuals over 50 years old (OR = 1.15 with 95% CI 0.77-1.71). For oestrogen therapy, women taking oral contraceptives (OCs)/hormone replacement therapy (HRT) showed a lower CM risk than men (OR = 0.63, 95% CI 0.44-0.89), with risk estimates significantly lower (P < 0.0001) than in non OCs/HRT users, which had an increased risk compared to men (OR = 1.81, 95% CI 1.29-2.53). CONCLUSIONS: Being overweight was significantly associated with CM risk, and this relationship was highly age-conditioned; the second finding was the protective effect of oestrogen therapies for women. Both findings may have a significant impact on melanoma prevention, as the prevalence of obesity and hormone therapy use is increasing worldwide.