title: High-definition optical coherence tomography of melanocytic skin lesions.
abstract: High-definition optical coherence tomography (HD-OCT) scanners have recently been developed. We assessed micromorphological HD-OCT correlates of benign naevi (BN) and malignant melanoma (MM). 28 BN and 20 MM were studied using HD-OCT and histology. Epidermal honeycomb/cobblestone pattern, regular junctional cell nests, and edged papillae are more often observed in BN, whereas fusion of rete ridges, pagetoid cells and junctional and/or dermal nests with atypical cells are more frequently seen in MM. A high overlap of HD-OCT features in BN and MM was observed and in 20% of MM we did not find evidence for malignancy in OCT images at all. Using HD-OCT it is possible to visualize architectural and cellular alterations of melanocytic skin lesions. The overlap of HD-OCT features seen in BN and MM and the absence of suspicious HD-OCT features in some MM represents an important limitation of HD-OCT affecting the sensitivity of HD-OCT in diagnosing MM. High-definition optical coherence tomography and the corresponding vertically sectioned histology of a compound naevus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Gudrunstrasse 56, 44791, Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Thilo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gambichler
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Gudrunstrasse 56, 44791, Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Iris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Plura
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Oncology Center Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schmid-Wendtner
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Gudrunstrasse 56, 44791, Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Valavanis
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Allergology, Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kulichova
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Gudrunstrasse 56, 44791, Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stücker
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Gudrunstrasse 56, 44791, Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Azem
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pljakic
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Allergology, Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Carola
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Berking
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Allergology, Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maier
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D009508:Nevus, Pigmented / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence
keywords: High‐definition optical coherence tomography; histology; in vivo imaging; malignant melanoma; melanocytic naevi