Melanoma Diagnosis: The Importance of Histopathological Report

Abstract

The demand for histopathological diagnosis of pigmented lesions has increased steadily over the last 20 years, partly due to the incidence of melanoma and partly because of increased awareness and referrals from general practitioners. This makes a unified and systematic approach to melanoma histopathology even more important. The histopathological diagnosis of melanocytic lesions is one of the greatest challenges for pathologists. The recognition of a melanocytic tumor as a melanoma is not based on the search of single, objective, and easily reproducible morphological diagnostic features but, instead, it stems from a constellation of diagnostic criteria whose implementation, meaning, and relative weight may vary considerably from one case to another.