Once a diagnosis of primary cutaneous melanoma has been established by a pathologist, the treatment of choice is usually complete removal by surgical excision. Surgery is to accomplish two goals: (a) to permit complete assessment of the entire tumor for…
Prognostic information is helpful for individual patients affected by melanoma to understand their likely clinical outcome. However, it is also important for clinicians to assist them in making management decisions and for the design, conduct, eligibility, and analysis of clinical…
Pathologists will inevitably encounter melanocytic neoplasms, which are difficult to classify as melanocytic nevus or melanoma by histopathologic examination alone. While diagnostic confidence and uncertainty depend on one's level of experience and expertise, even the most experienced melanocytic lesion expert…
Despite our advances in understanding the pathogenetic processes involved in tumor progression, the diagnosis of melanocytic tumors relies primarily on examining morphological features on hematoxylin-and-eosin stained slides. However, for some tumors there are limitations to the sensitivity and specificity of…
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is an important ancillary method for the histopathologic diagnosis of melanocytic proliferations. Its purpose is to correlate the presence or absence of an antigen of interest with a cell or group of cells, such as to determine its…
Prior to the 1970s dermatologists had the advantage of analyzing the clinical morphology of lesions with their histopathology-trained eye and the microscopic morphology with their clinically trained eye. With the creation of dermatopathology as a subspecialty in the 1970s, clinical…
Most patients with primary cutaneous melanoma will be cured by surgery. However, metastatic disease develops in approximately 15% to 30% of patients. Most metastases manifest after the diagnosis of the primary melanoma, usually within less than 3 years, rarely up…
The presence of benign melanocytes within lymph nodes was first reported by Stewart and Copeland. The frequency of their detection in lymph nodes ranges from less than 1% to up to 25% in some studies. It is likely that this…
Although metastases originating from cutaneous melanomas account for the large majority of melanocytic neoplasms encountered in the human central nervous system (CNS), the latter include tumors that arise within the meninges or, less often, the neuroparenchyma proper. These are presumed…
Mucosal Melanocytic Nevi Melanocytic nevi rarely grow at mucosal sites. Mucosal nevi are most often found affecting the conjunctiva or oral mucosa. Conjunctival mucosal nevi are discussed in a separate chapter. Oral mucosal melanocytic nevi are usually discovered during a…