title: Subungual acrolentiginous amelanotic melanoma treated with amputation of the distal and middle phalanges.
abstract: Acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) is an uncommon melanoma type among Caucasions. ALM bears an unfavorable prognosis because of late presentation or common misdiagnosis. Amelanotic variants, albeit rare, may pose an additional clinical challenge and may further delay the diagnosis and treatment. Thus, the threshold for biopsying even marginally suspicious lesions should be low. We present two cases of Caucasian patients with amelanotic subungual ALM, stage 2a and 2c respectively, successfully treated with a functional amputation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Territorial Medicine, Section of Dermatology, University of Messina, Italy. cguarneri@unime.it
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guarneri
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bevelacqua
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Semkova
authors.forename: Georgi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tchernev
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tempel
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Wollina
mesh_terms: D000671:Amputation, Surgical; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005385:Fingers / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018328:Melanoma, Amelanotic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D009260:Nail Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins