Pigmented epithelioid melanocytoma: favorable outcome after 5-year follow-up.
Pigmented epithelioid melanocytoma (PEM) is a recently described entity encompassing epithelioid blue nevus (of Carney complex) and most tumors earlier considered as so-called "animal-type melanoma". Loss of expression of a Carney complex gene, cyclic adenosine 3',5' monophosphate-dependent protein kinase regulatory subunit 1alpha, is observed in the majority of PEMs. Initial reports with short-term follow-up have suggested that although PEMs frequently metastasize to lymph nodes, they have a more favorable outcome than conventional melanomas. In this report, we present the results of long-term follow-up in 26 patients with PEMs from North America and Australia. There were 9 males and 17 females, with a median age of 20 years. The tumors involved the trunk (6 cases), extremities (12 cases), genitalia (1 case), and the head and neck region (7 cases) had a median Breslow thickness of 2.2 mm (range 0.80 to 10.0 mm) and a median Clark level of 4. Eight of the patients developed lymph node metastases. After a median follow-up period of 67 months (range 39 to 216 mo), all patients are alive and free of disease. These findings provide further evidence that PEM is a unique low-grade melanocytic tumor with limited metastatic potential (to lymph nodes), but a favorable long-term clinical course.
Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Rajni V
RV
Mandal
Rajmohan
R
Murali
Kurt F
KF
Lundquist
Bruce D
BD
Ragsdale
Peter
P
Heenan
Stanley W
SW
McCarthy
Martin C
MC
Mihm
Richard A
RA
Scolyer
Artur
A
Zembowicz
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D001706:Biopsy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D015622:Epithelioid Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D018329:Nevus, Blue / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery*; D009656:North America; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult