Cutaneous Spitzoid melanoma in a very young girl of Asian descent

• Published in: BMJ case reports Vol. 2011; no. mar29 1; p. bcr0920103343
• Main Authors: Miranda, Suzette G, Kashani-Sabet, Mohammed, Zedek, Daniel, McCalmont, Timothy H, Leong, Stanley P L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group LTD 2011; BMJ Publishing Group
• Series: Findings that shed new light on the possible pathogenesis of a disease or an adverse effect
• Subjects: Age; Asian Americans; Biopsy; Child, Preschool; Chinese; Family medical history; Female; Findings That Shed New Light on the Possible Pathogenesis of a Disease or an Adverse Effect; Humans; Leg; Lymphatic system; Medical prognosis; Melanoma; Melanoma - pathology; Patients; Skin cancer; Skin Neoplasms - pathology; USA/Canada
• ISSN: 1757-790X; 1757-790X
• DOI: 10.1136/bcr.09.2010.3343

Cutaneous melanoma is extremely uncommon in children. Further, Asian-Americans appear to be at decreased risk for cutaneous melanoma. The authors present the case of a prepubescent Asian girl who presents with the rare spitzoid variant of cutaneous melanoma. The patient is a 4-year-old girl of Chinese descent who presented with a red, raised nodule, which increased in size over a 3-month period. She underwent wide local excision with sentinel lymph node dissection. On histopathologic analysis, she was found to have Spitzoid melanoma of childhood/adolescence. Spitzoid melanoma in children is rare and incompletely understood. A recent systematic review was only able to identify 82 such cases published over a 57-year period. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Spitzoid melanoma in a paediatric age patient of Asian descent. While this clearly is an uncommon demographic, it seeks to highlight important differences in racial predilection for Spitzoid melanoma.