A. Neil Crowson
Regional Medical Laboratory & The University of Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
A 47 year old man presented to his dermatologist with a dark spot on his arm. Physical examination
showed a 0.9 x 0.7 cm brown flat lesion on his right arm. A shave biopsy was performed. Light
microscopy showed a nested and single cell population of melanocytes at the dermo-epidermal junction with
migration to the mid-spinous layers. These cells were epithelioid in character, had nuclei larger than
adjacent keratinocytes, manifested abundant quantities of irregularly-melanized pale cytoplasms, and
nuclei with prominent solitary nucleoli. There were no dermal stromal alterations one associates with
dysplastic nevi.
A 17 year old girl presented to her dermatologist's office with a "mole" in her genital area. Physical
examination showed a 0.8 x 0.6 cm tan-colored, slighted elevated lesion on her right mons pubis. A shave
biopsy was performed. Light microscopy showed nests of melanocytes at the dermo-epidermal junction that
manifested multinucleated giant cells with pale cytoplasms and variably-sized pigment granules. The
melanocyte nuclei were similar in size to those of adjacent keratinocytes and showed discrete nucleoli.
There was prominent homogeneous stromal collagen superficially. The junctional component extended past
the lateral confines of a banal dermal melanocytic populace in a symmetrical fashion. There were no
mitoses in the melanocytes.
Boris Bastian
UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center
San Francisco, California
47 year old man with a pigmented lesion on his right sole. CGH shows multiple aberration including
amplifications of chromosomes 11q13 and 22q13.
5 year old girl with a lesion on the left flank that was removed and recurred one year later. CGH did
not reveal any chromosomal aberrations.
33 year old man with a lesion of the left ear that was removed and recurred after several years. CGH
showed multiple chromosomal aberrations.
45 year old man with a pigmented lesion on his back. CGH showed multiple chromosomal aberrations, but no
amplifications.
Dirk J. Ruiter
University Medical Center Nijmegen
Nijmegen, The Netherlands
A 44 year old man with a blue-grey skin tumor of the left shoulder, 1.1 cm.
A 32 year old woman with an irregular black, partly grey-white slightly elevated mole of the right upper
arm, 1.8 cm.
Raymond Barnhill
George Washington University Medical School
Washington, DC
838-01: 51 year-old female with central back lesion biopsied to rule out squamous cell carcinoma.
C02-954: 61 year-old male with a lesion on the right chest biopsied by shave technique.
Martin C. Mihm, Jr
Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts
This 40 year old woman had a pigmented lesion present on the shoulder for 2 years that gradually
increased in size. A sentinel lymph node biopsy was negative.
This 34 year old woman with stage 4 melanoma showed a vigorous 30 cm diameter response to autologous
melanoma cells transfected with GM-CSF.
