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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2007 Nov-Dec;45(6):541-8.

[Correlation among simple observation and dermoscopy in the study of pigmented lesions of the skin]

[Article in Spanish]
Blanca Carlos-Ortega  1 , María Eugenia Karina Sánchez-Alva, Antonio Ysita-Morales, Ulises Angeles-Garay
Affiliations
  • PMID: 18593536
Randomized Controlled Trial

[Correlation among simple observation and dermoscopy in the study of pigmented lesions of the skin]

[Article in Spanish]
Blanca Carlos-Ortega et al. Rev Med Inst Mex Seguro Soc. 2007 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

Introduction: Dermoscopy began in 1663, and until 1971 was used to diagnose skin lesions.

Objective: To measure the correlation between simple observation and dermoscopy to diagnose pigmented skin lesions.

Methods: The study was conducted in Centro Médico Nacional La Raza. Sixty-eight patients with pigmented skin lesions were included. Participants were randomly examined by two dermatologists blinded to the study. Both dermatologists did simple observations and dermoscopy. Every participant was diagnosed using both procedures and by both doctors. A skin biopsy was obtained for pathological study.

Results: Kappa index of agreement to diagnose malignancy of the skin lesion between simple observation and histology was 0.69 (95 % CI 0.44, 0.93); the dermoscopy/histology Kappa index was 0.73 (95 % CI 0.60, 0.87). 75 % of positive results were obtained by using dermoscopy, compared to 63.9 % obtained by simple observation (p = 0.12). Simple observation and dermoscopy showed 94.44 % and 90.38 % sensitivity, specificity was 73.33 and 82.92 % and test accuracy was 84.84 and 87.09 % respectively.

Conclusions: Dermoscopy is a non-invasive technique with acceptable specificity and superior than simple observation to diagnose pigmented skin lesions.

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