The impact of dermoscopy on the management of pigmented lesions in everyday clinical practice of general dermatologists: a prospective study

Abstract

Background: Dermoscopy greatly improves the clinical diagnosis of pigmented lesions. Few studies have investigated, however, how dermoscopy is guiding management decisions in everyday clinical practice. In addition, most studies have been performed in the setting of dermoscopy experts working in pigmented lesion clinics.

Objectives: To assess the impact of dermoscopy on clinical diagnosis and management decisions for pigmented lesions in everyday practice of general dermatologists.

Methods: We performed a prospective study in general dermatology clinics in community hospitals run by dermatologists with intermediate dermoscopy experience and expertise. Each clinician independently included suspicious lesions from consecutive patients. Pre- and postdermoscopy diagnoses and management decisions were recorded. Pathology was used as reference diagnosis.

Results: In total, 209 suspicious lesions were included in the study by 17 dermatologists. Fourteen lesions were histologically proven in situ or invasive malignant melanomas. Based on clinical diagnoses, dermoscopy improved sensitivity from 0.79 to 0.86 (P = 1.0). All 14 melanomas were intended to be excised based on naked eye examination alone, independent of dermoscopic evaluation. Specificity increased from 0.96 to 0.98 (P = 0.22). Dermoscopy resulted in a 9% reduction of the number of excisions.

Conclusions: Dermoscopy reduced the number of excisions, but did not improve the detection of melanomas. Our results suggest that in everyday clinical practice of general dermatologists the main contribution of dermoscopy is a reduction of unnecessary excisions.