Search

The continuous improvement of life expectancy of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has resulted in increased risk of second primary malignancy that potentially may affect survival and quality of life of CLL patients. We performed a systematic review to assess the risk and the clinical-pathological features and prognosis of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) in patients with CLL. We searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Control Trials databases for articles published from database inception to December 31, 2019. English-language studies reporting original data on patients with a specific diagnosis of CLL and cSCC were included. Data were extracted using a standardized extraction form, and any discordance was resolved by consensus. Descriptive data were generated by pooling patients from eligible studies. Of the 4588 non-duplicate records identified, 55 articles met our inclusion criteria. These studies reported that CLL patients have a 3.2% prevalence of cSCC, with an 11.5% cSCC-related lethality and an overall risk of metastasis of 5.7% (7.3% for regional lymph node involvement and 3.8% for distant metastasis). The quality of evidence was limited by the high heterogeneity in the design, populations, and objectives of the included studies. This systematic review suggests that cSCC in CLL patients tends to behave less aggressively compared with the solid organ transplant recipients but has a higher morbidity and mortality than in the general population. Future prospective studies are needed to increase the quality of evidence and to determine the best treatment modalities and screening intervals for these patients., (© 2021 The Authors. International Journal of Dermatology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of the International Society of Dermatology.)

Background: There is lack of studies on the diagnostic accuracy of dermoscopy and reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) for dark pigmented lesions., Objective: To assess the diagnostic accuracy of dermoscopy plus confocal microscopy for melanoma diagnosis of dark pigmented lesions in real life., Methods: Prospective analysis of difficult dark lesions with clinical/dermoscopic suspicion of melanoma referred for RCM for further analysis. The outcome could be excision or dermoscopic digital follow-up., Results: We included 370 clinically dark lesions from 350 patients (median age, 45 y). Because of the clinical/dermoscopic/RCM approach, we saved 129 of 213 unnecessary biopsies (specificity of 60.6%), with a sensitivity of 98.1% (154/157). The number needed to excise with the addition of RCM was 1.5 for melanoma diagnosis., Limitations: Single institution based; Italian population only., Conclusions: This study showed that RCM coupled with dermoscopy increases the specificity for diagnosing melanoma, and it helps correctly identify benign lesions. Our findings provide the basis for subsequent prospective studies on melanocytic neoplasms belonging to patients in different countries., (Copyright © 2020 American Academy of Dermatology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)