Assessment of Melanoma Risk in Acquired Melanocytic Nevi Using Digital Dermoscopic and 3-Point Checklist Score

INTRODUCTION: Among skin cancers if not diagnosed early the highest death rate is for malign melanoma. Many studies has showed that multipl nevi lead to an increased risk of melanoma. It is a good option to take photos of patients in periodic intervals. In our study, we calculated the risk of melanoma in patients with acquired melanocytic nevi with 3-point checklist and digital dermoscopy and we aimed to compare the results and their advantages to each other
METHODS: We enrolled 300 patients with acquired melanocytic nevi in our study. Cases we enrolled in our study were recorded in the pre-prepared patient follow-up form. In this study Fotofinder HD (Germany) digital dermoscopy instruments was used. Lesions that were regarded as malign by 3-point scoring method were excised and histopathologically evaluated. In statistical calculations significance level of 5% was used and calculations were made by SPSS (ver: 13) statistical package program.
RESULTS: Of our patients 157 were male (52.3%) and 143 (47.7%) were female. Sensitivity of digital dermoscopy was determined as 86% according to the 3-point checklist. Of the 300 patients 6 were diagnosed as malign melanoma. Sensitivity of the 3-point checklist was determined as 97%.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: In our study, the results of 3-point checklist were detected higher than previous studies. Since digital dermoscopy is easy to use, this method is conenient especially for inexperienced physicians in the diagnosis of malignancy. But dermoscopic algorithms remain as the first choice for specialist physicians.