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Melanocytic neoplasms originate from melanocytes and melanoma, the malignant form, is a common canine neoplasm and the most aggressive human skin cancer. Despite many similarities between these neoplasms in both species, only a limited number of studies have approached these entities in a comparative manner. Therefore, this review compares benign and malignant melanocytic neoplasms in dogs and humans, exclusively those arising in the haired skin, with regard to their clinicopathological, immunohistochemical and molecular aspects. Shared features include spontaneous occurrence, macroscopic features and microscopic findings when comparing human skin melanoma in the advanced/invasive stage and canine cutaneous melanoma, immunohistochemical markers and several histopathological prognostic factors. Differences include the apparent absence of active mutations in the BRAF gene in canine cutaneous melanoma and less aggressive clinical behaviour in dogs than in humans. Further studies are required to elucidate the aetiology and genetic development pathways of canine cutaneous melanocytic neoplasms. Evaluation of the applicability of histopathological prognostic parameters commonly used in humans for dogs are also needed. The similarities between the species and the recent findings regarding genetic mutations in canine cutaneous melanomas suggest the potential utility of dogs as a natural model for human melanomas that are not related to ultraviolet radiation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interests The authors declared no conflicts of interest in relation to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The inflammatory response may have pro or anti-neoplastic effects in tumors, depending on the histological type and malignancy level of the tumor. This study aimed to evaluate the profile of predominant inflammatory cells by immunohistochemistry in cutaneus squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of dogs, comparing it with the degree of differentiation of the tumor. Twenty samples of SCC were analyzed. The tumors were histologically classified into two groups, differentiated SCC (SCCd=12) and undifferentiated SCC (SCCu=08). The tumor inflammatory infiltrate was determined by immunohistochemistry, in order to identify macrophages, lymphocytes and plasma cells. The comparison between groups, SCCd and SCCu, was not significant concerning the density of macrophages (P=1.0), T lymphocytes (P=0.335) and plasma cells (P=0.075). However, when comparing the inflammatory infiltrate in each group, the macrophages were the predominant cell type in both groups, a significant difference was found in the SCCd with plasma cells (P

Background: Dermoscopy improves sensitivity and specificity and helps in the early detection of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSC). Because of the multidisciplinary approach to melanoma, plastic surgeons may be required to perform dermoscopy evaluation. For this reason, in some university hospitals, plastic surgeons in training might perform these evaluations. To assess the validity of digital dermoscopy conducted by plastic surgery registrars, the authors collected the diagnoses of excised lesions from a dermoscopy outpatient clinic, comparing results with literature., Methods: A total of 1094 consecutive dermoscopy evaluations performed at Padova University Hospital between 2015 and 2018 were included in the study. All examinations were carried out by 3 plastic surgery registrars who received comparable training on dermoscopy. Excised lesions were classified according to pathological reports., Results: Four hundred sixty-six lesions were excised, and of them, 224 (48%) were considered pathological or atypical lesions: 34 melanomas (15%), 83 dysplastic or uncertain significance nevi (37%), and 107 NMSC and their precursors (48%). Considering only the 347 pigmented lesions, 34% were malignant or dysplastic lesions. The number needed to treat (NNT) was 10. The nevi-to-melanoma ratio (NMR) was 8, and the malignant melanoma-to-melanoma in situ ratio (MM:MMIS ratio) was 0.36., Conclusions: This retrospective study tested the performance of specifically trained plastic surgery registrars in the detection of malignant skin lesions. Compared to literature, the analysis reflects a good sensibility for melanoma, especially in early curable stages. Moreover, our study underlines quite a high number of total excisions, which could be explained by the "surgical imprinting" of plastic surgery registrars., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2019 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The risk of skin cancer induced by photosensiting drugs is well known. An association between hydrochlorothiazide use and skin cancer has been recently published in some epidemiological studies. A systematic review of case-control or prospectives cohorts showed an increased risk of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma even if some confusing factors such as tobacco smoking was not analysed. Results are more conflicting for basal cell carcinoma or melanoma. These results do not modify the benefit/risk ratio but should lead to propose preventive mesures: identification of high risk population, avoidance of this drug if possible in immunocompromised patients or with previous skin cancer, regular skin examination in case of long term use of hydrochlorothiazide., (Copyright © 2019 Société Nationale Française de Médecine Interne (SNFMI). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Cryosurgery with liquid nitrogen is one of the most used treatments for actinic keratosis. We aimed to study the effectiveness of two consecutive sessions of cryosurgery for actinic keratosis and investigate factors associated with its therapeutic success. Hence, we conducted a longitudinal study including 92 patients of both sexes, aged 50-75 years with 5-50 actinic keratosis on the face and forearms, who underwent cryosurgery and treatment with sunscreen SPF 30, at baseline and after 120 days. The lesions were counted in duplicate by the same examiner before the start of treatment and after 120 (N=92) and 300 days (N=33), represented by their medians and quartiles and compared using the generalized linear mixed effects model (negative binomial). Treatment behavior was investigated in relation to sex, age, education, skin type, smoking, sun exposure at work and the use of aspirin, anti-inflammatory and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. There was a significant reduction in the actinic keratosis count on the face and forearms (p<0.05). Our results confirmed the effectiveness of cryosurgery for actinic keratosis, with a 57% reduction in the number, and size of the lesions. Higher education levels (p=0.02) and less sun exposure at work (p=0.02) independently promoted a significant reduction in the actinic keratosis count. Different population groups showed characteristic responses to the treatment, which may be explained by the degree of adherence to the use of photoprotection. In two sessions, cryosurgery with liquid nitrogen reduced the actinic keratosis count., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Marjolin's ulcer, a term used to describe a malignancy arising in chronic ulcers of the skin, sinuses, scar tissue, and especially burns scars. The majority of burn scar carcinomas are seen after a lag period in burns that were not grafted following injury., Objective: To describe the epidemiology and its clinical characteristics of patients with Marjolin's ulcer arising in a chronic burn scar., Design and Patients: A case series study was done at Al-Jumhoori Teaching Hospital Burn Center, identifying 27 patients with chronic burn scar that underwent malignant transformation into a carcinoma, from January 1992 to December 2011. Data related to patients were retrieved from their medical records. All lesions were secondary to burns from various causes. All patients were proven to have malignancy by biopsy., Results: Of the 27 Marjolin's ulcer patients, 18 were males and 9 were female (male to female ratio 2:1), and the mean age was 42.7 years (range: 18-80 years). Upon histological examination, all were diagnosed as well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. The lower limb was most frequently affected (81.5%). Treatment of the neoplasm consisted of excision and grafting in 81.5%, radiotherapy in 11.1% and amputation in 7.4%. Local recurrence was noted in 22.2%, and lymph node metastasis in 11.1%., Conclusion: Chronic ulcer that undergoes malignant change was a common finding in the present study. All suspected masses or ulcers within chronic burn scars should be promptly biopsied., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.)

Background: Primary cutaneous melanoma still constitutes the main cause of skin cancer death in developed countries, and its incidence in recent years has been increasing in a steady, worrisome manner., Objectives: This study evaluated the clinical, epidemiological and demographic aspects of this disease, and correlated them with patient prognosis., Methods: Using epidemiologic and clinical data, we analyzed 84 patients with mild to severe primary cutaneous melanoma treated between 1990 and 2007. Slides containing surgical specimens were analyzed, and new slides were made from archived paraffin sections when necessary., Results: The melanoma incidence was higher in areas of sun exposure, with lesions commonly observed in the trunk for males, and lower limbs for females. In addition to Breslow's thickness and ulceration (p = 0.043 and p < 0.001, respectively), the mitotic rate per mm(2) also correlated with worse patient outcome (p = 0.0007). The sum of ulceration (0 when absent or 1 when present), the Breslow index (1 when <1 mm, 2 when >1 mm and <4 mm, 3 when >4 mm) and the mitotic index (0 when absent or 1 when > or =1 per mm(2)) allowed the establishment of a prognostic score: if the sum was equal to or over three, nearly all (91.7%) patients had systemic disease. The 5-year survival was approximately seventy percent., Conclusion: Because American Join Committee of Cancer Staging will update the classification of malignant tumors (TNM) staging in the near future, and introduce mitosis as a prognostic factor, our results show the importance of such a feature. Additional studies are necessary to confirm the importance of a prognostic score as proposed herein.