Vol.5, No 1, 1998 pp. 58 - 60
UDC: 616.073

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CHARACTERISTICS OF MALIGNANT MELANOMA EXAMINED BY 20-MHz ULTRASOUND
Dragan Jovanović¹, Mirjana Paravina¹, Ljiljana Spalević¹, Milenko Stanojević¹,
Jelica Tiodorović¹, Ivana Binić¹, Mirjana Milosavljević¹, Braslav Jovanović^2
1Clinic for Skin & Venereal Diseases, Clinical Centre Niš, Faculty of Medicine, Niš, Serbia, Yugoslavia
²Clinic for Oncology, Clinical Centre Niš, Faculty of Medicine, Niš, Serbia, Yugoslavia

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Summary. High frequency ultrasound examination of the skin lesions is a relatively new, increasingly important additional diagnostic method in dermatology. Using 20-MHz ultrasound, we have analysed eight skin lesions clinically suspected and subsequently pathohistologically verified as malignant melanoma. The echograms of the examined lesions showed in dermis, under the entry echo, nonechogenic formations, irregularly oval in shape, with more or less pronounced sharp-pointed hypo- or nonechogenic elongations spreading into the surrounding dermis. Lesion borders, particularly distal, were relatively clear, which enabled easier determination of the lesion diameter. The described echographic characteristics were related to clinically very suspected skin lesions for malignant melanoma. Final diagosis of malignant melanoma is still in the domain of pathohistology. 20-MHz ultrasound may be useful for preoperative measurement of lesions diameter.
Key words: Malignant melanoma, 20-MHz  ultrasound, diagnostics

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KARAKTERISTIKE MALIGNOG MELANOMA ISPITIVANE 20-MHz ULTRAZVUKOM Primena visokofrekventnog ultrazvuka u analiziranju kožnih promena je relativno nova i sve aktuelnija pomoćna dijagnostička metoda u dermatologiji. 20-MHz ultrazvukom smo analizirali 8 kožnih promena klinički veoma suspektnih, a naknadno i patohistološki verifikovanih kao maligni melanom. Ehogrami ispitivanih promena su pokazali neehogene formacije u dermu, neposredno ispod ulaznog eha, nepravilno ovalnog oblika, sa manje ili više izraženim izduženim hipo- ili neehogenim bočnim produžecima, koji se ispod ulaznog eha šire u okolni derm. Granice promene su relativno jasne, naročito distalna, što olakšava određivanje dijametra promene. Opisane ehografske karakteristike se odnose na promene već i klinički veoma suspektne na maligni melanom. Definitivna dijagnoza malignog melanoma je još uvek u domenu patohistologije. 20-MHz ultrazvuk može biti veoma koristan za preoperativno određivanje dimenzija promene.
Ključne reči: Maligni melanom, 20-MHz ultrazvuk, dijagnostika