« Back

Optical tomography may help spot malignant melanoma

Friday, November 23 2007 | Comments

---

What's This? By David Douglas

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Optical coherence tomography (OCT) appears useful in differentiating benign and malignant melanocytic skin lesions, according to German researchers.

"OCT is a safe and non-invasive method that has the potential to aid diagnosis of malignant melanoma and other skin malignancies," lead investigator Dr. Thilo Gambichler told Reuters Health. "However, the technique has to be improved in terms of higher resolution and depth of penetration into the skin."

In the October issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Dr. Gambichler and colleagues at Ruhr-University Bochum note that OCT appears to be a promising means of examining the micromorphology of skin.

To investigate further, the researchers prospectively examined 75 patients using OCT and then histologically studied excised tumors. In all, 52 benign nevi and 40 malignant melanomas were included.

The team found that under OCT the malignant melanomas showed a marked architectural disarray and they rarely had a clear dermoepidermal border. In only very few instances did they demonstrate characteristics typical of the dermoepidermal junction zone of benign nevi.

However, say the researchers, the most striking architectural feature, seen only in malignant melanomas, was "large vertical icicle-shaped structures that partly reached the reticular dermis."

Moreover, they add, "Malignant melanomas more frequently showed more or less bizarrely arranged, highly reflective cords in the epidermis and dermis."

Given these promising findings, the researchers conclude that larger studies "including a broad range of benign and malignant skin lesions are warranted to investigate the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of OCT."

J Am Acad Dermatol 2007;57:629-637.

Print  |  E-mail