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The worldwide incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma (MM) has been rising steadily over the past 30 years. At the same time non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC) are the most prevalent type of cancer in United States and Europe. Up to date, no paper has explored the influence on the general survival in patients with MM and NMSC. We decided to perform a study with the aim to evaluate the different survival in patients with MM-NMSC compared to control patients (MM-CTRL).To evaluate prognosis in both groups, we analyzed disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS).Kaplan-Meier product was performed for the survival analysis. Median DFS was 73 months in group and 72 months in MM-CTRL patients (p = 0.4); while, median OS was 74.2 months in MM-NMSC patients and 63.1 in MM-CTRL (p0.001). Also at Odds-Ratio (OR), the statistical significance was maintained (p0.007) with a better prognostic value for MM-NMSC.Among group patients, the ones with a basal cell carcinoma showed a batter behavior, than the ones with squamous cell carcinoma (p = 0.01).Patients with MM-NMSC showed a better survival than MM-CTRL patients (p0.001). The causes of this improved survival are still unknown; probably the endogenous immune response can play a pivotal role in this class of patients. However, further studies are necessary to better understand this phenomenon, not yet explored in literature.

Hand eczema is a chronic disease (1), commonly considered the expression of a contact allergic or irritative dermatitis. However, when the prick/patch tests and laboratory investigations are negative, important diagnostic challenges may arise. Peripheral nerve fibers are in fact capable of releasing neuromediators. Thus, an alteration of the central and/or peripheral nervous system can cause the exacerbation as well as the onset of a cutaneous disease (2). From September 1, 2013 to August 31, 2015, we observed 5 female patients between 20 and 40 years old, with particular hand dermatitis lesions on the volar area, unilateral on the right hand in 3 patients and bilateral in 2 patients. In one case, the dermopathy extended to all the fingers, up to the area of the metacarpophalangeal joints, thenar, and hypothenar eminences. The skin appeared dry (Figure 1), anhidrotic, inelastic, thinned, scaly, and slightly erythematous (Figure 2). In some cases, the fingertips appeared sclerotic, while in other cases the transversal fissures on the flexural joints caused painful and incomplete finger flexion. The dorsal surface was unaffected and the nails healthy. Symptoms were paresthesia and burning sensation. All of the patients were in good general health, with negative routine laboratory investigations, IgE serum levels and prick/patch tests. One patient had just given childbirth three months before the onset of the disease. The patients had been suffering of their hand dermatitis for a duration ranging from 2 months and 2 years and had been treated unsuccessfully with topical and systemic drugs, mainly corticosteroids. We performed a cervical spine X-ray in different projections. In all patients, we observed a degenerative disease of the cervical spine with a reduction of intersomatic discs, primarily C5-C6 (Figure 3). This led us to establish a diagnosis of neurodystrophic hand dermatitis (NHD). Patients started specific treatment programs for the spinal disorder, intake of a vitamin B complex and repairing/soothing skin creams, with a partial improvement. NHD is rarely described in the literature; in 1964 Sannino et al. reported 89 female patients with skin alterations similar to the ones observed in our case series as well as negative patch/prick tests and laboratory investigations, and the main finding was the presence of a cervical spine disease between C5-C7 (3). Recently, Azimi et al. performed a review of skin diseases at sites affected by neurological deficits. They started to collect data from 1966, but did not mention cases attributable to NHD, which is an underestimated and misdiagnosed disorder (2). Cervical spine disease is a predisposing factor for the development of NHD. Additionally, thermoreceptors may be mainly involved, as also reported in brachio-radial pruritus (4-5), explaining the presence of burning sensation. However, in our opinion, NHD should not be classified as a "neurogenic inflammation". This term describes the vasodilation and protein extravasation caused by inflammatory neuropeptides and adrenergic transmitters that influence the antigen presentation, mast-cell degranulation, and cytokine release (2). In fact, corticosteroids and other immunosuppressors are ineffective. Specific treatments for cervical spine disease remain the treatment of choice, as does constant use of repairing/soothing skin creams. Antidepressants, physiotherapy, postural exercises, neuromodulators, and vitamin B complex may be also helpful.

Acral melanoma is an uncommon type of melanoma in Caucasian patients. However, acral melanoma is the most common type of melanoma in African and Asian patients. Comparison analyses between hand-acral melanoma and foot-acral melanoma have been rarely reported in the literature. Acral melanoma is an uncommon melanocytic tumor characterized by an intrinsic aggressiveness, with specific histological and clinicopathological features. Acral melanoma involves the palms, soles and sub-ungueal sites. A total of 244 patients with acral melanoma were included in our analysis. The current study was performed in three different medical centers: Sapienza University of Rome, San Gallicano Institute of Rome and University of Magna Graecia (Italy). The Kaplan-Meier product was used to estimate survival curves for disease-free survival and overall survival. The log-rank test was used to evaluate differences between the survival curves. Assuming that the effects of the predictor variables are constant over time, the independent predictive factors were assessed by Spearman's test and subsequently data were analyzed performing Cox proportional-hazard regression. In both univariate and multivariate analyses Breslow thickness (p < 0.0001) and ulceration (p = 0.003) remained the main predictors. General BRAF mutation was detected in 13.8% of cases. We found that median Breslow value and the percentage of recurrences were similar in hand-acral melanoma and foot-acral melanoma, as well as there were no differences in both short and long-term. The absence of differences in survival between hand-acral melanoma and foot-acral melanoma shows that the aggressiveness of the disease is related to distinct mutational rate, as well as to anatomical site-specific features, rather than to the visibility of the primary lesion