Diagnostic accuracy of fine needle biopsy for metastatic melanoma and its implications for patient management

Malignant melanoma diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration in cases presenting with parotid mass

BACKGROUND

One of the most common malignancies that metastasize to the parotid glands and associated lymph nodes is cutaneous melanoma. Although fine-needle aspiration (FNA) is well established for diagnosing primary salivary gland tumours, there is limited literature on its role in diagnosing metastatic lesions.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

This study aims to investigate the cytomorphological features of malignant melanoma diagnosed by FNA in cases presenting with a parotid mass.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We present the clinical and cytomorphological findings of four cases. Conventional FNA biopsy smears and cell blocks were performed using standard techniques and for the differential diagnosis, a panel of immunohistochemical markers was used.

RESULTS

The patients included three females and one male, aged 54 to 77. FNA biopsies revealed atypical cells with large, hyperchromatic, pleomorphic nuclei, some of which exhibited prominent nucleoli. Plasmacytoid and oncocytic morphologies were also observed. Numerous mitotic figures were noted. Immunohistochemical staining showed HMB-45, S100 positivity in all cases. SOX10, MART-1 and MITF positivity were also observed. Three of the four patients had no history or suspected lesions of melanoma at the time of FNA diagnosis. The absence of melanin pigment complicated the diagnosis, but immunostains confirmed malignant melanoma.

CONCLUSION

Diagnosing malignant melanoma by FNA can be challenging, especially when the melanoma is in an unusual site, cytological findings are ambiguous, and there is no history of cutaneous melanoma. Accurate diagnosis requires a high level of suspicion and the use of appropriate immunohistochemistry.

Optimal surveillance strategies for patients with stage 1 cutaneous melanoma post primary tumour excision: three systematic reviews and an economic model

BACKGROUND

Malignant melanoma is the fifth most common cancer in the UK, with rates continuing to rise, resulting in considerable burden to patients and the NHS.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives were to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of current and alternative follow-up strategies for stage IA and IB melanoma.

REVIEW METHODS

Three systematic reviews were conducted. (1) The effectiveness of surveillance strategies. Outcomes were detection of new primaries, recurrences, metastases and survival. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration's Risk-of-Bias 2.0 tool. (2) Prediction models to stratify by risk of recurrence, metastases and survival. Model performance was assessed by study-reported measures of discrimination (e.g. D-statistic, Harrel's c-statistic), calibration (e.g. the Hosmer-Lemeshow 'goodness-of-fit' test) or overall performance (e.g. Brier score, R ²). Risk of bias was assessed using the Prediction model Risk Of Bias ASsessment Tool (PROBAST). (3) Diagnostic test accuracy of fine-needle biopsy and ultrasonography. Outcomes were detection of new primaries, recurrences, metastases and overall survival. Risk of bias was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 (QUADAS-2) tool. Review data and data from elsewhere were used to model the cost-effectiveness of alternative surveillance strategies and the value of further research.

RESULTS

(1) The surveillance review included one randomised controlled trial. There was no evidence of a difference in new primary or recurrence detected (risk ratio 0.75, 95% confidence interval 0.43 to 1.31). Risk of bias was considered to be of some concern. Certainty of the evidence was low. (2) Eleven risk prediction models were identified. Discrimination measures were reported for six models, with the area under the operating curve ranging from 0.59 to 0.88. Three models reported calibration measures, with coefficients of ≥ 0.88. Overall performance was reported by two models. In one, the Brier score was slightly better than the American Joint Committee on Cancer scheme score. The other reported an R ² of 0.47 (95% confidence interval 0.45 to 0.49). All studies were judged to have a high risk of bias. (3) The diagnostic test accuracy review identified two studies. One study considered fine-needle biopsy and the other considered ultrasonography. The sensitivity and specificity for fine-needle biopsy were 0.94 (95% confidence interval 0.90 to 0.97) and 0.95 (95% confidence interval 0.90 to 0.97), respectively. For ultrasonography, sensitivity and specificity were 1.00 (95% confidence interval 0.03 to 1.00) and 0.99 (95% confidence interval 0.96 to 0.99), respectively. For the reference standards and flow and timing domains, the risk of bias was rated as being high for both studies. The cost-effectiveness results suggest that, over a lifetime, less intensive surveillance than recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence might be worthwhile. There was considerable uncertainty. Improving the diagnostic performance of cancer nurse specialists and introducing a risk prediction tool could be promising. Further research on transition probabilities between different stages of melanoma and on improving diagnostic accuracy would be of most value.

LIMITATIONS

Overall, few data of limited quality were available, and these related to earlier versions of the American Joint Committee on Cancer staging. Consequently, there was considerable uncertainty in the economic evaluation.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite adoption of rigorous methods, too few data are available to justify changes to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommendations on surveillance. However, alternative strategies warrant further research, specifically on improving estimates of incidence, progression of recurrent disease; diagnostic accuracy and health-related quality of life; developing and evaluating risk stratification tools; and understanding patient preferences.

STUDY REGISTRATION

This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42018086784.

FUNDING

This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol 25, No. 64. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) for Chinese Patients With Acral and Cutaneous Melanoma: Accuracy and Safety Analysis From a Single Institution

This study aimed to investigate the accuracy and safety of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in Chinese patients with acral and cutaneous melanoma, and also to evaluate the influencing factors and their impact on prognosis. Data of 128 patients with stage 0-III acral and cutaneous melanoma treated in Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center from 2009 to 2016 were collected from a prospective database. Further, 128 patients who did not undergo FNAC but had similar parameters were recruited as the matched group. Clinical features, FNAC status, and recurrence or metastasis status of patients were analyzed for overall survival (OS), melanoma-specific survival (MSS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and metastasis-free survival (MFS). Of the 128 patients with FNAC, 5.5% (7/128) had a negative cytological diagnosis, 12.2% (5/41) had primary lesions, and 2.3% (2/87) had lesions in lymph nodes. Tumor thickness, status of ulceration, and subtype were not associated with accuracy for both primary and lymph node FNAC. With a median follow-up of 40 months in all patients, 55 had melanoma-specific death; the median OS and MSS were 95 months and 104 months, respectively. Patients with FNAC had significantly worse OS. Tumor progression occurred in 130 patients. The survival analysis revealed differences in OS and disease-free survival between the two groups. FNAC impacted patients' RFS and MFS; the difference in survival curves of RFS and MFS was also statistically significant. FNAC on primary or superficial lymphatic lesions was a good diagnostic tool for Chinese patients with acral and cutaneous melanoma, but it adversely impacted prognosis.

BRAF as a positive predictive biomarker: Focus on lung cancer and melanoma patients

In the era of personalized medicine, BRAF mutational assessment is mandatory in advanced-stage melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The identification of actionable mutations is crucial for the adequate management of these patients. To date various drugs have been implemented in clinical practice. Similarly, various methods may be adopted for the identification of BRAF mutations. Here, we briefly review the current literature on BRAF in melanoma and NSCLC, focusing attention in particular on the different methods and drugs adopted in these patients. In addition, an overview of the real-world practice in different Italian laboratories with high expertise in molecular predictive pathology testing is provided.

Simultaneous Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Treatment of Metastatic Melanoma

Metastatic melanoma (MM) has a poor prognosis and is attributed to late diagnoses only when metastases has already occurred. Thus, early diagnosis is crucial to improve its overall treatment efficacy. The standard diagnostic tools for MM are incisional biopsies and/or fine needle aspiration biopsies, while standard treatments involve surgery, chemotherapy, or irradiation therapy. The combination of photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) and therapy (PDT) utilizes a photosensitizer (PS) that, when excited by light of a low wavelength, can be used for fluorescent non-destructive diagnosis. However, when the same PS is activated at a higher wavelength of light, it can be cytotoxic and induce tumor destruction. This paper focuses on PS drugs that have been used for PDD as well as PDT treatment of MM. Furthermore, it emphasizes the need for continued investigation into enhanced PS delivery via active biomarkers and passive nanoparticle systems. This should improve PS drug absorption in MM cells and increase effectiveness of combinative photodynamic methods for the enhanced diagnosis and treatment of MM can become a reality.

[Update on surgical treatment of primary and metastatic cutaneous melanoma]

Melanoma is a common cutaneous tumour. It is of great importance due to its increasing incidence and aggressive behaviour, with metastasis to lymph nodes and internal organs. When suspecting melanoma, excisional biopsy should be performed to obtain complete histological information in order to determine the adverse factors such as ulceration, mitosis rate, and Breslow depth, which influence preoperative staging and provide data for sentinel lymph biopsy decision making. The indicated management for melanoma is wide local excision, observing recommended and well-established excision margins, depending on Breslow depth and anatomical location of the tumour. Therapeutic lymphadenectomy is recommended for patients with clinically or radiologically positive lymph nodes. This article reviews surgical treatment of melanoma, adverse histological factors, sentinel lymph node biopsy, and radical lymphadenectomy. Details are presented on special situations in which management of melanoma is different due to the anatomical location (plantar, subungual, lentigo maligna), or pregnancy.

Metastatic amelanotic melanoma with occult primary masquerading as sarcoma

Malignant melanoma with occult primary is extremely rare. It is found that survival is almost same or even better than the melanomas with known primary site. Surgeons should have a high index of suspicion when a patient presents like sarcoma which bleeds profusely when planning for excision. Here, is an unusual case of young adult which presented initially with granulomatous lymphandenitis in axilla with primary suspicion of tuberculosis, later turning out to be sarcoma on FNAC and MRI. On immunochemistry (IHC), the final diagnosis of amelanotic melanoma was made and further workup did not show up any primary site of origin.

Melanoma patients with an unknown primary tumor site have a better outcome than those with a known primary following therapeutic lymph node dissection for macroscopic (clinically palpable) nodal disease

BACKGROUND

Several reports in the literature suggest a difference in outcome between melanoma patients with macroscopic (clinically palpable) nodal disease from an unknown primary (MUP) and a known primary (MKP). The purpose of this study was to compare the outcomes for MUP and MKP patients after therapeutic lymph node dissection (TLND) for macroscopic nodal disease.

METHODS

From a large, prospective, single-institution database, the details of melanoma patients who first presented with macroscopic nodal disease and underwent TLND between 1971 and 2010 were extracted and analyzed.

RESULTS

There were 287 MUP patients and 264 MKP patients who fulfilled the study selection criteria. MUP patients had better disease-free, distant metastasis-free, and melanoma-specific survival after their TLND than MKP patients (all p < 0.001). Extranodal melanoma extension, >3 positive lymph nodes, and administration of adjuvant radiotherapy were all independent predictors of reduced disease-free and melanoma-specific survival (all p < 0.05). MUP patients also had a better prognosis than MKP patients whose primary melanoma had regression (p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The occurrence and improved outcome of MUP patients may be due to immune-induced total regression of the primary tumor and better immunologic prevention or control of distant metastatic disease. Alternatively, in some MUP patients, melanoma may not be metastatic but may originate de novo from nevus cells in lymph nodes, with the more favorable prognosis attributable to their primary nodal origin and complete surgical resection.

Fine-needle aspiration cytology for the diagnosis of metastatic melanoma: systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES

To perform a thorough review and meta-analysis of studies that have shown non-image-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) to be highly sensitive and specific for assessing questionable metastatic melanoma to lymph nodes.

METHODS

MEDLINE and Scopus were searched for potentially relevant articles with a search string including the words "melanoma" and "fine needle." All relevant articles were screened by two authors (B.J.H. and R.L.S.). Full articles were screened for extractable data, and the data was pooled for analysis.

RESULTS

Of 978 unique studies found, 10 (5,518 cases) met our inclusion criteria. In a pooled analysis of palpation and ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspirations, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.99 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99-1.00). The summary estimates for the sensitivity and specificity were 0.97 (95% CI, 0.95-0.98) and 0.98 (95% CI, 0.98-1.00), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

With a sensitivity and specificity of 0.97 and 0.99, the overall diagnostic accuracy of FNAC for metastatic melanoma is quite high, and with a positive and negative likelihood ratio of 58 and 0.03, FNAC for metastatic melanoma should be the first-line option in a patient with a clinically suspected mass and a history of melanoma.

Surgical treatment of malignant melanoma: practical guidelines

Melanoma is currently the fifth and sixth most common solid malignancy diagnosed in men and women, respectively. Although accounting for only 4% of cases of all cutaneous malignancies, melanoma accounts for more than 75% of all deaths from skin cancer. This article discusses epidemiology and risk factors, proper biopsy technique, advanced histologic evaluation of biopsy material, assessment of tumor thickness and staging, preoperative metastatic evaluation, excision margin, treatment of regional lymph nodes, treatment of recurrence, and some special clinical situations.

Cutaneous melanoma: a prospective study of 42 cases

A prospective longitudinal study of 42 cases of cutaneous melanoma showed that: 71.2% of patients were between 50 and 79 years of age; 45.1% were male and 54.7% female; most patients (88%) were white; most lesions (54.7%) were located on the trunk (p = 0.039); the most common clinical and histological pattern was the superficial spreading melanoma (52.3% / 26.1%) (p = 0.02); 16 cases (38.1%) were classified as stage IA and 9 cases (21.4%) consisted of melanomas in situ.

Fine needle aspiration cytology of palpable and nonpalpable lymph nodes to detect metastatic melanoma

BACKGROUND

Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is usually used to evaluate palpable nodes in patients with melanoma. The goal of our study is to review the sensitivity and specificity of this technique when applied to palpable but also to nonpalpable nodes.

METHODS

FNAC was performed during 1984-2007 in 1279 patients with suspicious lesions and/or lymph nodes. Indications for biopsy included increased size and/or palpability of nodes or abnormal ultrasound findings such as increased perfusion or focal lesions within the lymph nodes. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of FNACs guided by palpation or ultrasound were calculated for all patients and for subgroups of patients with palpable nodes or nonpalpable but sonomorphologically suspicious nodes.

RESULTS

A total of 2446 FNACs were performed in 1279 melanoma patients, of which 2011 (82.2%) FNACs had clinically or histologically confirmed results. Increased size and/or palpability of nodes was observed in 376 (29.4%) of 1279 patients, and abnormal ultrasound findings occurred for 903 (70.6%), indicating that a biopsy was needed. FNACs guided by palpation had sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values similar to that of FNACs guided by ultrasound (sensitivity = 98.4% vs 97.2%, specificity = 100% vs 99.8%, positive predictive value = 100% vs 99.9%, and negative predictive value = 95.2% vs 96.4%, for palpation-guided FNACs vs ultrasound-guided FNACs, respectively). Results did not differ between patients with the palpable nodes and patients with nonpalpable but sonomorphologically suspicious nodes.

CONCLUSIONS

Ultrasound-guided FNAC of suspicious lymph nodes and lesions in melanoma patients has a high sensitivity and specificity, and FNAC should not be limited to palpable nodes. FNAC of normal-sized nodes and/or lymph nodes with abnormal ultrasound findings can be used to identify early metastatic disease.

Melanoma pathology: important issues for clinicians involved in the multidisciplinary care of melanoma patients

Histologic analysis remains the gold standard for diagnosis of melanoma. The pathology report should document those histologic features important for guiding patient management, including those characteristics on which the diagnosis was based and also prognostic factors. Pathologic examination of sentinel lymph nodes provides very important prognostic information. New techniques, such as comparative genomic hybridization and fluorescence in situ hybridization are currently being studied to determine their usefulness in the diagnosis of melanocytic lesions. Recent molecular studies have opened new avenues for the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma (ie, targeted therapies) and molecular pathology is likely to play an important role in the emerging area of personalized melanoma therapy.

Unusual clinical presentation of cutaneous malignant melanoma metastatic to the parotid gland; initially discovered by fine needle aspiration: case report and review of literature

We report a case of malignant melanoma (MM) metastatic to the parotid gland, initially discovered on fine needle aspiration (FNA). The patient presented with a mass in the parotid gland area with previous history only significant for prostatic carcinoma. The initial FNA impression was melanoma. The smears were hypercellular with bloody necrotic background. The cells were epithelioid with mild nuclear atypia. Discrete cytoplasmic pigmentation was seen. No lymphoglandular bodies were noticed. Fragments of benign salivary gland were also identified. The cytological diagnosis of MM triggered onsite thorough physical examination for potential primary, where a scalp pigmented lesion was discovered hidden by overlying covering hair. Our differential diagnosis included melanoma, metastatic carcinoma, and lymphoma. Further work up for melanoma with S100, HMB45, and Mart 1 confirmed our top differential diagnosis. We emphasize thorough physical examination in such circumstances, and the importance of onsite evaluation guiding clinicians looking for primary.

Management of regional lymph node basins in melanoma

Of all malignancies, melanoma has the most rapid increase in incidence; in 2009 it was estimated to have had the fifth highest number of new cases overall. Surgical therapy remains the primary and most effective intervention for this disease. Over the past 20 years there has been a significant paradigm shift in the management of the regional nodal basin, driven predominantly by the introduction of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB). This new technique has drastically altered the method of detecting nodal disease and has become a routine component of melanoma treatment. In addition to SLNB, a better understanding of ultrasound, fine-needle biopsy, and the considerable efforts to minimize the morbidity of surgical intervention has led to innovations in the management of patients with regional metastases. An overview of the current therapeutic options for managing patients with nodal disease follows.

Sentinel lymph node biopsy for melanoma: aspects of pathologic assessment

Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy affords an accurate, minimally invasive means of staging and determining prognosis in patients with melanoma and for identifying those patients who may benefit from complete regional lymph node dissection. Careful and accurate histopathologic assessment of SLNs is critical to achieving optimal reliability of the technique. Micromorphometric parameters of melanoma deposits in SLNs have been shown to be predictive of regional non-SLN involvement and of clinical outcomes. Several non-histopathologic methods of SLN evaluation have been investigated, and while some of them show promise for the future, excision and histopathologic examination currently remains the gold standard for the evaluation of SLNs.