STATISTICAL EVALUATION OF EPILUMINESCENCE MICROSCOPY CRITERIA IN THE DIFFERENTIAL-DIAGNOSIS OF MALIGNANT-MELANOMA AND PIGMENTED BASAL-CELL CARCINOMA

Pigmented basal cell carcinoma (PBCC) is a tumour with distinct clinic al features which occasionally may be difficult to differentiate from malignant melanoma (MM), The purpose of this study was to re-examine t he epiluminescence microscopy (ELM) criteria for PBCC and to determine their statistical significance in the differential diagnosis of MM. F ifty histologically verified pigmented skin lesions (25 PBCCs and 25 M Ms) were investigated using ELM for the presence of ELM criteria; thei r significance was determined by calculating the odds ratios. We found that individual ELM criteria have different weights of significance i n the differential diagnosis of PBCC (leaf-like distribution of diffus e pigmentation, gradual thinning at the periphery and telangiectasia) and MM (pigment network, black and grey pigmentation, radial streaming , pseudopods, brown globules and black dots), Selected patterns of ELM criteria adjusted to the distinct types of pigmented skin lesions are characteristic features for preoperative diagnosis, The prevalence of distinct ELM criteria in PBCC and MM is of critical value in differen tiating between the two types of lesions.