Treatment of advanced melanoma with selective BRAF and MEK inhibitors is associated with a series of mucocutaneous side effects, among which morphological changes in preexisting nevi and the development of new melanocytic lesions, both benign and malignant. Objective was to describe the changes observed in melanocytic nevi under vemurafenib therapy, followed by combination therapy with dabrafen...

BACKGROUND Cutaneous nevi are suggested to be hormone-related. We hypothesized that the number of cutaneous nevi might be a phenotypic marker of plasma hormone levels and predict subsequent breast cancer risk. METHODS AND FINDINGS We followed 74,523 female nurses for 24 y (1986-2010) in the Nurses' Health Study and estimate the relative risk of breast cancer according to the number of cutaneo...

The mucosa of the uterine cervix is normally devoid of melanocytes; therefore, melanin-containing lesions are very rare in this site. A new case of a common blue nevus in the cervix of a 57-year-old woman is reported. The lesion was an incidental finding in a total hysterectomy specimen performed for atypical endometrial hyperplasia. Gross and histological examination revealed minute dark macul...

BACKGROUND Melanosis of the uterine cervix is a rare, benign, melanocytic lesion of the cervix. A review of the English-language literature revealed 11 other reported cases. CASE A 52-year-old African American woman who presented for evaluation and treatment of menorrhagia was found to have an irregular, pigmented cervical lesion. The ectocervical biopsy showed melanosis characterized by hype...

We developed an automated approach for generating quantitative image analysis metrics (imaging biomarkers) that are then analysed with a set of 13 machine learning algorithms to generate an overall risk score that is called a Q-score. These methods were applied to a set of 120 "difficult" dermoscopy images of dysplastic nevi and melanomas that were subsequently excised/classified. This approach...

To investigate whether the frequency of the BRAF(V600E) (V-raf murine sarcoma virus oncogene homolog B1) mutation in melanocytic nevi is associated with sun exposure patterns, we examined 120 acquired melanocytic nevi excised from various anatomic sites, including glabrous skin, as well as 62 congenital nevi. We used a new mutation detection system based on the shifted termination assay, called...

Although conflicting with the concept of nevi being hamartomas, to date, Spitz and Reed nevi have been regarded as acquired melanocytic nevi, whereas many other types have already been accepted as being congenital. Here, the reader will find a survey on clinical, dermatoscopic and histopathologic clues suggesting a congenital origin of authentic Spitz nevi. Relevant differences in respect to Re...

Melanocytic nevi occurring in lymph nodes create diagnostic difficulty by mimicking metastases. Few studies describe nodal nevi in sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) excised for melanoma. We evaluated 72 cases in which patients had undergone SLN biopsy for melanoma. Lymph nodes and cutaneous melanomas were evaluated according to a standard protocol. Nodal nevi were identified in 8 patients (11%). Of t...

PURPOSE To estimate size overlap between large choroidal nevi and small choroidal melanomas by using plotted frequency distributions of tumor size. METHODS Frequency distributions of largest linear basal diameter (LBD) and thickness (TH) of choroidal nevi and melanomas were plotted from published data and cases in the senior author's practice. Relative frequencies of choroidal nevi and melano...