UV INDUCED ERYTHEMA EVALUATED 24 H POSTEXPOSURE BY SKIN REFLECTANCE AND LASER-DOPPLER FLOWMETRY IS IDENTICAL IN HEALTHY-PERSONS AND PATIENTS WITH CUTANEOUS MALIGNANT-MELANOMA AND BASAL-CELL CANCER

Twenty-one patients with invasive cutaneous malignant melanoma and 19 patients with basal cell skin cancer and 29 healthy volunteers were ph ototested on non-UV exposed buttock skin to examine their 24 h reactio n to a series of increasing doses of simulated sunlight with 25% dose increments. Skin pi mentation at the phototest sites was determined by skin reflectance before testing to assure an equal level of constitut ive skin pigmentation in the 3 groups. Erythema reactions were scored visually 24 hours post-exposure and objective measurements of erythema were performed by skin reflectance and laser Doppler flowmetry, Ln ad jacent non-irradiated skin thr redness was also quantified to determin e the increase in redness in irradiated skin compared to non-irradiate d skin. Constitutional skin pigmentation correlated well to UV sensiti vity (r= 0.75) and skin redness measured by skin reflectance technique correlated to laser Doppler flowmetry (r= 0.86). No significant diffe rences in UV doses to barely perceptible erythema or to the higher ery thema grades were found between the two skin tumour groups and the con trol group, and no significant differences were found in skin reflecta nce measured redness or in laser Doppler flowmetry of any erythema rea ctions between the 3 groups. The 24 h erythema reaction to sunlight ca n therefore not be used to distinguish patients with invasive cutaneou s malignant melanoma or basal cell carcinoma from normal persons, (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.