Original articleDermatoscopic vascular patterns in cutaneous Merkel cell carcinoma
Section snippets
Methods
Study approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Michigan Medical School. Consecutive patients were identified who presented to the Multidisciplinary Cutaneous Oncology Clinic at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center from 2009 to 2010 with clinically present cutaneous MCC who were evaluated with dermatoscopy. All histopathology and immunohistochemical slides were reviewed and the diagnosis of MCC was confirmed by the University of Michigan
Results
A total of 10 MCC tumors in 10 patients were evaluated by dermatoscopy (Table I). Seven patients were female and 3 were male, ranging in age from 56 to 89 years; one patient was immunosuppressed. All 10 tumors were primary cutaneous lesions. Six (60%) tumors were located on the head and neck, with the remaining 4 (40%) on the extremities.
In 9 of the 10 tumors a complete MCC histopathology profile was available, whereas one tumor was unable to be fully evaluated because of crush artifact. Among
Discussion
In this series of 10 MCC tumors, we identified a number of dermatoscopic vascular patterns including milky-red areas and arborizing, linear-irregular, dotted, and glomerular vessels. Although none of the vascular patterns observed are specific for MCC, all indicate a malignant diagnosis and would prompt a biopsy to be performed.
Because MCC is often initially confused with a benign lesion, the average lesion is present for at least 5 months before a biopsy is performed.3 In at least 4 of our
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2017, Actas Dermo-SifiliograficasClinical and dermoscopic features of combined cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)/neuroendocrine [Merkel cell] carcinoma (MCC)
2015, Journal of the American Academy of DermatologyCitation Excerpt :Dermoscopy may alert clinicians to biopsy presumed NMSC with atypical or polymorphous vascular patterns. Reported dermoscopic features of MCC include homogenous pink tumors with polymorphous vascular patterns.21-25 Milky-red areas/globules, polymorphous vessels, and linear-irregular vessels are the commonly identified vascular patterns.25
Funding sources: None.
Conflicts of interest: None declared.