Histomorphologic assessment and interobserver diagnostic reproducibility of atypical spitzoid melanocytic neoplasms with long-term follow-up. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Predicting clinical behavior of atypical Spitz tumors remains problematic. In this study, we assessed interobserver agreement of diagnosis by 13 expert dermatopathologists for atypical Spitz tumors (n=75). We determined which histomorphologic features were most heavily weighted for their diagnostic significance by the experts and also which histomorphologic features had a statistically significant correlation with clinical outcome. There was a low interobserver agreement among the experts in categorizing lesions as malignant versus nonmalignant (κ=0.30). The histomorphologic features that were given the most diagnostic significance by the experts were: consumption of the epidermis, atypical mitoses, high-grade cytologic atypia, and mitotic rate. Conversely, the histomorphologic features that most correlated with disease progression were: frequent mitoses, deep mitoses, asymmetry, high-grade cytologic atypia, and ulceration. The presence and/or pattern of pagetoid spread, consumption of the epidermis, and lymphoid aggregates demonstrated no association with clinical behavior. The results support the assertion that there is a lack of consensus in the assessment of atypical Spitz tumors by expert dermatopathologists. Importantly, many features used to distinguish conventional melanoma from nevi were not useful in predicting the behavior of atypical Spitz tumors. This study may provide some guidance regarding histologic assessment of these enigmatic tumors.

authors

  • Gerami, Pedram
  • Busam, Klaus
  • Cochran, Alistair
  • Cook, Martin G
  • Duncan, Lyn M
  • Elder, David E
  • Fullen, Douglas R
  • Guitart, Joan
  • LeBoit, Philip E
  • Mihm, Martin C
  • Prieto, Victor G
  • Rabkin, Michael S
  • Scolyer, Richard A
  • Xu, Xiaowei
  • Yun, Sook Jung
  • Obregon, Roxana
  • Yazdan, Pedram
  • Cooper, Chelsea
  • Weitner, Bing Bing
  • Rademaker, Alfred
  • Barnhill, Raymond L

publication date

  • July 1, 2014

Research

keywords

  • Melanocytes
  • Melanoma
  • Nevus, Epithelioid and Spindle Cell
  • Skin Neoplasms

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 84902536772

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1097/PAS.0000000000000198

PubMed ID

  • 24618612

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 38

issue

  • 7