Cutaneous melanoma: digital dermoscopy-essential tool for positive diagnosis.
Cutaneous melanoma is a "perfid", aggressive and hard to be treated malignant tumor in case of delayed diagnosis. However, patients still have a chance to escape progressive disease if the lesion is recognized early, when the surgical approach is curative. Dermoscopy has the important advantage of rapidity and non-invasivity in a field with (still) contradictory algorithms of diagnosis and treatment. The recognition of the elementary dermoscopic lesions enables accurate diagnosis for cutaneous melanoma. In our opinion, dermoscopy appears compulsory in the routine dermatologic examination. In vivo microscopy (dermoscopy) together with histopathology (plus or minus immunohistochemistry) seem, at present, to provide the most reliable diagnosis of melanoma.
Simionescu
Olga
O
The 1st Department of Dermatology, Colentina Hospital, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania. olgadana@yahoo.com
Costache
Mariana
M
Testori
Alessandro
A
D000328:Adult; D046169:Dermoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology