Improving Management and Patient Care in Lentigo Maligna by Mapping With In Vivo Confocal Microscopy

IMPORTANCE: Lentigo maligna (LM) is a clinical, pathologic, and therapeutic challenge with a higher risk of local recurrence than other types of melanoma correctly treated and also carries the cosmetically sensitive localization of head and neck. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) mapping of difficult LM cases might alter patient care and management. DESIGN: Analysis of LM and LM melanoma (LMM) in a series of patients with large facial lesions requiring complex reconstructive surgery and/or recurrent or poorly delineated lesions at any body sites were investigated. SETTINGS: Two tertiary referral melanoma centers in Sydney, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-seven patients with LM (including 5 with LMM) were mapped with RCM. Fifteen patients had a recurrent LM, including 9 with multiple prior recurrences. The LM was classified amelanotic in 10 patients, lightly pigmented in 9, and partially pigmented in 18. INTERVENTIONS: The RCM images were obtained in 4 radial directions (allowing for anatomic barriers) for LM margin delineation using an RCM LM score previously described by our research team. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Differences in the margin of LM as determined by RCM vs dermoscopy vs histopathologic analysis. RESULTS: Seventeen of 29 patients (59%) with dermoscopically visible lesions had subclinical (RCM-identified) disease evident more than 5 mm beyond the dermoscopy margin (ie, beyond the excision margin recommended in published guidelines). The RCM mapping changed the management in 27 patients (73%): 11 patients had a major change in their surgical procedure, and 16 were offered radiotherapy or imiquimod treatment as a consequence of the RCM findings. Treatment was surgical in 17 of 37 patients. Surgical excision margins (based on the RCM mapping) were histopathologically involved in only 2 patients, each of whom had an LM lesion larger than 6 cm. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In vivo RCM can provide valuable information facilitating optimal patient care management.