View clinical trials related to Nevus, Pigmented.
Filter by:Our working hypothesis is that reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) can identify distinct subsets of melanocytic nevi that retain their distinctive pattern over time.
Malignant Melanoma is a deadly skin cancer that can be cured if diagnosed early. To date atypical pigmented skin lesions are diagnosed by appearance alone and many moles and lesions are excised unnecessarily and on the other hand malignant lesions are missed and diagnosed too late. In this study a protein conjugated to a florescent dye is spread on a suspicious pigmented lesion, the hypothesis is that this protein binds to malignant cells only and thus with a special camera that picks up the dye we can find pigmented lesions with early malignant transformation.
The purpose of this study is to reduce the number of new surgically eligible BCCs by 50% appearing during month 3-18 of medication ingestion.
Changes in nevus count in 16 children (8m, 8f) aged between 2 and 17 years (median:8 years) suffering from different malignancies were examined every three months during a one-year period after starting chemotherapy. An age and sex matched control group underwent the same skin examinations.At the start of our study, the range of number of nevi in the chemotherapy group was 0-133, in the control group 2-199.
This project is a multicenter study in which we will investigate a dual concept of nevogenesis. Study location is the Department of Dermatology at the Medical University of Graz in collaboration with centers in Austria (Vienna), Italy (Naples, Benevento, Modena), Spain (Barcelona) and the United States (New York). The hypothesis is that small congenital melanocytic nevi (CMN), "early" acquired melanocytic nevi in childhood (AMN) and dermal nevi, all dermatoscopically characterized by globular pattern, belong to the same spectrum of genetically determined melanocytic proliferations that develop due to endogenous pathways, in contrast to "true" acquired melanocytic nevi, dermatoscopically showing reticular pattern, that develop due to exogeneous factors such as UV-exposure.
During the course of a case-control study of melanoma conducted at the Bufalini Hospital, Cesena, Italy in the years 1994-1996, 20 families with 2 or 3 melanoma cases were identified and studied. The area where the study was conducted showed the steepest increase in melanoma incidence in Mediterranean populations between the years 1987 and 1997. Clinical characteristics of melanoma in the families studied were similar to those typically described in fair-skinned populations, but no relevant mutations in the coding regions of known candidate genes from melanoma have been found. Lack of findings could be due to the modest number of families and the small number of affected CMM cases examined. We cannot exclude the possibility of alterations in introns, splicing sites or promoter regions. Also epigenetic factors could affect the expression of the gene products we studied. Alternatively, germline alterations of a gene(s) other than the candidate genes we analyzed may play an important role in melanoma predisposition in this population. A large number of families is needed to test these hypotheses. These additional families could provide an important contribution to the understanding o melanoma development. In fact, this population does not generally have the host characteristics that are usually associated with higher risk for melanoma (e.g., light skin color, red hair, blue eyes, multiple freckles, tendency to sunburn, etc.) but do have a relative high frequency of dysplastic nevi and melanoma. The main objective of this study is to recruit more families at the Bufalini Hospital, Cesena, Italy in order to reach a larger sample size. Recently, 16 potential melanoma-prone families have been identified through patient's or physicians' referrals by the Dermatologists at the Bufalini Hospital. The dermatologists have maintained close relationships with members of these families and are confident that these subjects would be willing to participate in a study if contacted. The first goal of our study is to contact this family group and verify their willingness to participate in the study. In addition, new families could be identified and recruited. We propose to conduct a pilot project. We estimate recruitment of approximately 25 families with 2 or more melanoma cases in first -degree relatives over a one-year period, including the 16 families already identified and approximately 10 new kindreds. At the end of the pilot phase we will determine the feasibility of continuing recruitment.
Background: - Melanocytic nevi, or "moles," are non-cancerous growths of a type of skin cell called a melanocyte. - Large congenital melanocytic nevi (LCMN) are a special type of mole that begins to grow before birth and is larger than moles that develop after birth. - Determining how melanocytes in moles and LCMNs differ from normal melanocytes may increase the ability to predict whether a mole will give rise to a melanoma (a type of skin cancer) Objectives: - To understand how melanomas develop, by studying moles, LCMNs, and pigmented skin lesions that are suspicious for melanoma - To develop better criteria for diagnosing melanoma, particularly by using a device called a digital dermatoscope (a special camera, connected to a computer, that takes pictures of moles when they are magnified and illuminated) Eligibility: - Children 5 years old or older with an LCMN - Adults 18 years old or older with 100 or more moles larger than 2 mm in diameter and at least one 4 mm or more - Adults 18 years old or older with a pigmented lesion suspicious for melanoma Design: - Patients' personal and family health history is obtained. - Patients are examined by investigative team doctors, and several lesions are examined with a dermatoscope. - Additional photographs of part or all of the skin surface may be taken. - Some lesions may be biopsied. - Additional tests or examinations may be recommended. - Patients are followed periodically for skin or physical examinations, photography, laboratory and imaging evaluations, and possible skin biopsies. - Children may undergo brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)