Preoperative ultrasonic assessment of thin melanocytic skin lesions using a 100-MHz ultrasound transducer: a comparative study

Abstract

Background: It has been shown that tumor thickness (TT) of melanocytic skin lesions (MSL) of less than 1 mm vertical thickness assessed by 20 MHz are often incorrectly evaluated.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the accuracy of 100-MHz ultrasound for the determination of TT of thin MSL, compared with conventional 20-MHz ultrasound and histologic findings.

Methods: Thirty-seven patients with 50 suspicious MSL, including tumor diameter up to 1 cm and maximum vertical TT of less than 1 mm, were recruited. The agreement between the histologically and ultrasographically measured TT was analyzed using Bland and Altman plots.

Results: Compared to histology, 20-MHz ultrasound (33.9 microm) as well as 100-MHz (16 microm) resulted in overestimation of TT that was twofold higher for 20-MHz ultrasound. The latter also revealed wider 95% limits of agreement (4.9 to 63 microm) than 100-MHz ultrasound (3.5 to 28.7 microm).

Conclusion: Analysis of agreement clearly demonstrated that the performance of 100-MHz ultrasound is superior to conventional 20-MHz ultrasound, even though a relatively small positive bias was observed in 100-MHz ultrasound, indicating a systematic error. We consider 100-MHz ultrasound a useful tool for the noninvasive determination of TT of thin MSL in vivo.