A STATISTICAL-ANALYSIS OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF PIGMENTED SKIN-LESIONS USING EPILUMINESCENCE MICROSCOPY

Due to the fact that not all pigmented skin lesions (PSL) can be diagn osed solely by their clinical appearance, additional criteria are requ ired to optimize the clinical diagnosis of atypical nevus and melanoma . Epiluminescence microscopy is a noninvasive in vivo examination that often helps to improve the accuracy of clinical diagnosis of such les ions. Years of experience have indicated some differential epiluminesc ent patterns for benign and malignant PSL but there is some controvers y about certain borderline lesions for which histological examination is always necessary. In our study we performed a statistical analysis of data concerning 183 PSL to determine characteristics significantly associated with these lesions allowing identification of epiluminescen t criteria suggestive of atypical nevus and malignant melanoma. Using the chi-quadro test and stepwise regression logistic model, we identif ied the following epiluminescent pattern as a risk factor for atypical nevus and malignant melanoma: irregular pigment network, presence of capillaries, irregular and abrupt ending of overall pigmentation, irre gular brown globules and irregular shape and size of black dots. (C) 1 997 Elsevier Science B.V.