title: Malignant melanoma and deep penetrating naevus--difficulties in diagnosis in children.
abstract: A 4-year-old boy presented to our department with a darkly pigmented lesion on the right side of his neck. It was excised and a diagnosis of deep penetrating naevus with atypical features was made. At 4-month follow-up our patient had developed a palpable cervical lymph node. Excision revealed malignant melanoma. We discuss our management and review the literature regarding DPN and melanoma of childhood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Salisbury District Hospital, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP2 8BJ, UK. hyder-ridha@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Hyder
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ridha
authors.forename: Salim
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Theaker
authors.forename: Nigel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Horlock
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003951:Diagnostic Errors / Q000009:adverse effects; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D009508:Nevus, Pigmented / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome