title: Implementation and analysis of relief patterns of the surface of benign and malignant lesions of the skin by microtopography.
abstract: The objective of this study was to be able to distinguish between healthy skin tissue and malignant ones, furthermore determining a unique pattern of roughness for each skin lesion by microtopographic analysis of the skin surface of Mexican patients during the period from April to October 2002. The standard technique used in this study for the diagnosis of skin cancer and the comparison of the results was the haematoxylin-eosin histopathological technique. Latex impressions were taken from skin lesions as well as from the healthy skin of each patient to serve as control samples. These impressions were analysed by the MICROTOP.03.MFC microtopographic system inspection. It was observed that when the tumour becomes rougher, more malign will be the lesion. On average, the melanoma present an increase of roughness of 67% compared to healthy skin, obtaining a roughness relation of 1:2.54. The percentage decreases to 49% (49%, 1:60) in the case of basal cell carcinoma and to 40% in pre-malignant lesions such as melanocytic nevus (40%, 1:150). In benign lesions such as the seborrhoea keratosis only a small increase in roughness was noted (4%, 1:0.72). Microtopographic inspection of the skin surface can be considered as a complementary diagnostic technique for skin cancer.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Citopatología Ambiental, Departamento de Morfología, ENCB-IPN, UP Lázaro Cárdenas, Casco de Santo Tomas, Mexico.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: del Carmen López Pacheco
authors.forename: Manuel Filipe Pereira
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: da Cunha Martins-Costa
authors.forename: Aura Judith Pérez
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Zapata
authors.forename: Judith Domínguez
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Cherit
authors.forename: Eva Ramón
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Gallegos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D046169:Dermoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007840:Latex; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008800:Mexico; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology*; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014054:Tomography / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D007840:Latex