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The high incidence of melanoma and unsatisfactory results of its treatment in some cases make the issue of timely diagnostics of pre-melanoma skin pathology, in particular the identification of pre-melanoma pigmented nevi, of great importance and can be used for choice an adequate tactics of treatment. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the informativeness of dermatoscopy in cases of patients with pigmented nevi of skin as a part of melanoma prevention. 168 patients with pigmented nevi were screened. All nevi were photographed with a digital camera SONY Cyber-Shot DSC-H3, first in normal mode with the capture of the localization zone of the tumor and its surrounding tissues, and then in macro mode (“Zoom 10”). To confirm the clinical diagnosis, additional characteristics of the pigment formation on the skin, the manual immersion dermatoscopy, was used using the contact non-polarized HEINE mini 3000 LED dermatoscope. Evaluation of images was carried out using the diagnostic algorithm ABCD and ABCD-E. Our findings suggest that the clinical diagnostic algorithm used by us for detecting signs of the activation of a pigmented nevi is highly informative — the sensitivity is 97.6 %. Performing immersion dermatoscopy allows to increase the informativeness of the clinical and instrumental examination at the preoperative stage up to 98.2 %, which is comparable with the data obtained at the stage of urgent cytological examination: the method sensitivityis 98.2 %.

Multiphoton microscopy (MPM) is a promising non‐invasive imaging tool for discriminating benign nevi from melanoma. In this study, we establish a MPM morphologic catalogue of common nevi, information that will be critical in devising strategies to distinguish them from nevi that are evolving to melanoma that may present with more subtle signs of malignancy. Thirty common melanocytic nevi were imaged in vivo using MPM. Quantitative parameters that can distinguish between different types of nevi were developed and confirmed by examining the histology of eleven of the imaged nevi. MPM features of nevi examined included cytologic morphology of melanocytes in the epidermis and dermis, the size and distribution of nevomelanocytes both within and around nests, the size of rete ridges, and the presence of immune cells in the dermis. Distinguishing features include cytological morphology, the size of nevomelanocytes, the size of nevomelanocyte nests, and the distribution of nevomelanocytes. Notably, these distinguishing characteristics were not easily appreciated in fixed tissues, highlighting essential differences in the morphology of live skin. Taken together, this work provides a morphologic compendium of normal nevi, information that will be critical in future studies directed at identifying melanocytic nevi that are evolving to melanoma.

There is a lot of methods of treatment of this abnormal condition, namely surgical resection, cryosurgery, laser excision, the use of bleaching agents. Surgical method not impeded the spread of nevi cells, what has the potential for malignancy. Non contact mode of excision with laser can reduce intraroperative wound contamination by tumor cells. For its universal properties the carbon dioxide (CO2) laser appears to be an excellent surgical instrument in oncologic surgery of skin lesions.

Problem: Non-invasive diagnostic techniques to facilitate diagnosis of pigmented skin lesions (PSL) are being developed. Dermoscopy and SIAscopy are two such techniques, and they are evaluated in this thesis. Aims: Pp I: To investigate if primary care physicians (PCPs) improve their ability to diagnose melanoma using dermoscopy after a short education intervention. Pp II: To describe relevant morphological features of pigmented basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) using dermoscopy and to create a diagnostic method based on these findings. Pp III: To evaluate if SIAscopy could be used to diagnose pigmented BCCs. Pp IV: i) To find out if SIAscopic findings topographically correlated with histopathological findings of melanoma; ii) if SIAscopy could give a topographic indication of the localisation of maximum tumour thickness, iii) provide a guide for appropriate sectioning of the specimen for histopathological evaluation. Methods: Pp I: The diagnostic accuracy for melanoma and non-melanoma PSLs were tested among 74 PCPs, divided into an education intervention group and a control group. Both groups were re-tested after the education intervention. Pp II: 426 dermoscopic images of pigmented BCCs, melanomas and benign PSLs were scored for dermoscopic features. Based on the results an algorithm was derived. Pp III: 21 pigmented BCCs were analysed regarding dermoscopic and SIAscopic findings. Pp IV: 60 PSLs, i.e. 29 invasive melanomas, 13 melanoma in situ and 18 benign PSLs, showing positive SIAscopic findings were included. Topographic comparisons were made between SIAscopic findings and histopahology. Results: Pp I: There was a significant improvement in sensitivity for melanoma diagnosis among PCPs who were educated in dermoscopy. Pp II: A dermoscopic algorithm for diagnosing pigmented BCCs was created. The algorithm had a sensitivity of 93% for the diagnosis of pigmented BCCs, a specificity of 89% for invasive melanoma and 92% for benign pigmented skin lesions. Pp III: The same SIAscopic features that had previously been shown to be frequent in melanomas, were seen in pigmented BCCs. Using dermoscopy 90% of the pigmented BCCs were correctly diagnosed. Pp IV: In only 11 of 29 invasive melanomas the SIAgraphs topographically matched the area of invasion on histology. A high concentration of dermal melanin was the SIAscopic signal with best correlation to melanoma invasion, although it also proved to have low specificity. Conclusions: Pp I: Dermoscopy significantly improves sensitivity for melanoma when used by primary care physicians, after a short education intervention on dermoscopy. Pp II: A robust dermoscopy algorithm that allows the diagnosis of pigmented BCCs from invasive melanoma and benign pigmented skin lesions has been developed. Pp III: SIAscopy has no advantage over dermoscopy when diagnosing pigmented basal cell carcinoma, and can be misleading if the examiner has little or no knowledge of dermoscopy. Pp IV: Information regarding microscopic structure and architecture given by the SIAscope does not represent reliable diagnostic information related to the lesions internal structure, when compared to histopathology. Therefore SIAscopy cannot be used as a guide for localising the maximum tumour thickness when performing histopathological examination. Key words: Melanoma, pigmented nevi, basal cell carcinoma, differential diagnosis, dermoscopy, spectrophotometric intracutaneous analysis, pathology ISBN 978-91-628-7547-3

Este artículo trata del melanoma, y recoge escenas de cine en las que aparece.