Dermoscopy in the diagnosis of tiny pigmented basal cell carcinoma: a preliminary evaluation

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic ability of dermoscopy in tiny pigmented basal cell carcinoma (BCC).Methods Fifty-eight patients with lesions measuring less than 5 mm in diameter and suspected for tiny pigmented basal cell carcinoma were enrolled in this study.The patients included 19 males and 39 females aging from 16 to 82 years.The disease course varied from 3 months to 25 years.The suspected lesions were examined by dermoscopy,then,two dermatologists independently made a diagnosis according to the findings on dermoscopy.Tissue specimens were also obtained from the suspected lesions for pathological diagnosis.The sensitivity,specificity and consistency with histopathology were calculated for dermoscopy in the diagnosis of tiny pigmented basal cell carcinoma.Results Of the 58 patients,36 were diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma according to pathological findings.Based on the dermoscopic features,41 cases were diagnosed as pigmented basal cell carcinoma by the dermatologist A,and 40 by the dermatologist B.The sensitivity,specificity,Youden index and Kappa value of dermoscopy were 97.22％,72.73％,69.95％ and 0.732 (P ＞ 0.05) respectively in the diagnosis of tiny pigmented basal cell carcinoma by the dermatologist A,97.22％,77.27％,74.49％ and 0.772 (P ＞ 0.05) respectively by the dermatologist B.Conclusion There is a high consistency between dermoscopy and histopathology in the diagnosis of tiny pigmented basal cell carcinoma. Key words: Carcinoma, basal cell; Dermoscopy; Diagnosis