TY - JOUR
T1 - Current technologies for the in vivo diagnosis of cutaneous melanomas
AU - Wang, Steven Q.
AU - Rabinovitz, Harold
AU - Kopf, Alfred W.
AU - Oliviero, Margaret
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - The rising incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma has been observed in the past decades.1,2 Currently, there is no cure for metastatic melanoma; only early diagnosis followed by prompt excision of cutaneous lesions ensures a good prognosis. The clinical ABCD rule3 is created as a framework for differentiating melanomas from benign pigmented skin lesions, and it serves as the basis for current clinical diagnosis. The ABCD rule relies on four simple clinical morphologies of melanoma: 1) Asymmetry, 2) Border irregularity, 3) Color variegation, and 4) Diameter greater than 6 mm. Although it is valuable, it has its limitations. Currently, the diagnostic accuracy for physicians is about 65%.4 This statistic implies that 1) melanomas with subtle signs are missed as benign lesions, and 2) benign lesions are over diagnosed as melanomas, which lead to unnecessary biopsies.
AB - The rising incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma has been observed in the past decades.1,2 Currently, there is no cure for metastatic melanoma; only early diagnosis followed by prompt excision of cutaneous lesions ensures a good prognosis. The clinical ABCD rule3 is created as a framework for differentiating melanomas from benign pigmented skin lesions, and it serves as the basis for current clinical diagnosis. The ABCD rule relies on four simple clinical morphologies of melanoma: 1) Asymmetry, 2) Border irregularity, 3) Color variegation, and 4) Diameter greater than 6 mm. Although it is valuable, it has its limitations. Currently, the diagnostic accuracy for physicians is about 65%.4 This statistic implies that 1) melanomas with subtle signs are missed as benign lesions, and 2) benign lesions are over diagnosed as melanomas, which lead to unnecessary biopsies.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.clindermatol.2003.12.008
DO - 10.1016/j.clindermatol.2003.12.008
M3 - Article
C2 - 15262307
AN - SCOPUS:3242731230
SN - 0738-081X
VL - 22
SP - 217
EP - 222
JO - Clinics in Dermatology
JF - Clinics in Dermatology
IS - 3
ER -