Can optical coherence tomography improve the management of basal cell carcinoma?

Abstract

Linked Article: Reddy and Nguyen. Br J Dermatol 2019; 180:475–483.

Basal cell carcinoma: Comprehensive clinical and histopathological aspects, novel imaging tools and therapeutic approaches (Review)

“…For the superficial subtype, the presence of a dark area bordering the dermis and the bulges or cones extending from the epidermis to the dermis are the most characteristic and positively associated images. The image compared to 'a shoal of fish' which translates as elongated and narrow structures found in the dermis, is indicative of the infiltrative subtype of BCC (12,(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)50,51).…”

Monitoring vulvar melanoma response to combined immunotherapy and radiotherapy with in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy

“…If RCM fails to demonstrate disease despite the presence of palpable nodules, we would consider it a potential false negative. The advent of multimodal images (such as RCM and optical coherence tomography [OCT]) Correspondence Clinical Letter may overcome this limitation by providing cellular details (RCM) and depth information (OCT) [11]. Another caveat is that mucosal surfaces are known to display large, bright, nucleated dendritic cells under RCM and this may obscure melanoma cells against normal background cells (Figure 2d) [5].…”

In vivo‐konfokale Reflexionsmikroskopie zur Überwachung des Ansprechens eines vulvären Melanoms auf eine kombinierte Immun‐ und Strahlentherapie

“…Wenn die RCM trotz palpabler Knötchen keine Erkrankung nachweisen kann, würden wir dies als potenziell falsch-negativ betrachten. Multimodale Bildgebung (wie RCM und optische Kohärenztomographie [OCT]) kann diese Einschränkung überwinden, indem sie zelluläre Details (RCM) und Tiefeninformationen (OCT) liefert [11]. Ein weiterer Vorbehalt ist, dass Schleimhautoberflächen in der RCM große, helle, kernhaltige dendritische Zellen zeigen und dies Melanomzellen vor normalen Hintergrundzellen verdecken kann (Abbildung 2d) [5].…”