▸ Metastatic melanoma with unknown primary or recurrence of melanoma. Whenever possible, do not remove seemingly benign lesions and discard them, he said. Also, be careful and selective about the use of liquid nitrogen or a laser on lesions that have not been confirmed to be benign through biopsy.
He noted that cases of assumed benign lesions that recur after ablation (via liquid nitrogen, curettage, or laser) may ultimately prove to be melanoma on histopathology. Furthermore, in the unlikely event that a patient develops metastatic melanoma with an unknown primary, it may be presumed that one of the ablated lesions was the primary.
Dr. Marghoob disclosed having no conflicts of interest. SDEF and this news organization are owned by Elsevier
As can be seen from the histology, this lesion was a melanoma, but depending on the location of a partial biopsy the results can range from a Clark's nevus to melanoma in situ to microinvasive to deeply invasive melanoma.
Source Images Courtesy Dr. Ashfaq A. Marghoob