Phagocytosis of melanosome-containing apoptotic cells by the neighbouring tumour cells appears to be followed by formation of melanosome complexes

Pigmented basal cell carcinomas can be difficult to distinguish clinically from melanoma. Dermoscopy has proven to be useful in the differential diagnosis of the two tumour types. SIAscopy (Spectrophotometric intracutaneous analysis) is a fairly new technique of imaging pigmented skin lesions that has been presented previously as a useful tool in diagnosing melanoma. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether SIAscopy can be useful in diagnosing pigmented basal cell carcinomas. Twenty-one pigmented basal cell carcinomas were analysed, comparing dermoscopic and SIAscopic findings. The results, in this limited setting, show that SIAscopy has no advantages over dermoscopy when diagnosing pigmented basal cell carcinomas. On the contrary, pigmented basal cell carcinomas show, in SIAscopy, similar features to those previously reported for melanoma.