Spitz Nevus; Pigmented Spindle-Cell Variant
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My 22 year old daughter had a small, black, flat, symmetrical mole removed during a routine skin check. It came back as SPITZ NEVUS; PIGMENTED SPINDLE-CELL VARIANT.
MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION: SITUATED MOSTLY AT THE DERMAL-EPIDERMAL JUNCTION ARE ORDERLY FASCICLES AND SOLITARY UNITS OF MELANOCYTES WITH SPINDLED AND OVAL NUCLEI AND ABUNDANT MELANIN WITHIN THEIR CYTOPLASM. HE LESION APPEARS EXCISED IN THESE SECTIONS.
I’ve had three melanoma’s so this has me worried because I read there can be a problem telling melanoma apart from spitz nevus. Is that true?
This pathology was done at:
Institute for Dermatopathology DERMPATH
Newtown Square, PA 19073
My daughter is a medical assistant at the dermatologist office that did the biopsy and she won’t hear of getting a second opinion. The doctor said if the margins weren’t clear she would have done an excision, but since they were clear it’s fine.
Thank you.
Well your daughter is wrong to prevent you from getting another opinion. These things are tricky and you have lots of good folks at UPENN for example to look at this. Pathologists are human and sometimes it takes another set of eyes. Have the slides sent to PENN or Dr. Mihm ( http://www.drmihm.com ) and find out if this is spitz or melanoma.Just a quick follow-up. I’d like to encourage anyone who has a question on their pathology to go to Dr. Mihm’s website to pursue a second opinion. His office was extremely helpful and the process was easy. He concurred with the original pathology report and I can relax!
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