Reviewing Challenges in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Lentigo Maligna and Lentigo-Maligna Melanoma

Lentigo maligna (LM) and lentigo-maligna melanoma (LMM) are pigmented skin lesions that may exist on a continuous clinical and pathological spectrum of melanocytic skin cancer. LM is often described as a “benign” lesion and is accepted as a melanoma in situ; LM can undergo malignant transformation to particularly aggressive melanoma. LMM is an invasive melanoma that shares properties of LM, as well as exhibiting the metastatic potential of malignant melanoma. Unfortunately, LM/LMM diagnosis based on dermoscopy is rather ambiguous, and these lesions are often mistaken for junctional dysplastic nevi over sun-damaged skin, pigmented actinic keratosis, solar lentigo, or seborrheic keratosis. Diagnosis must be made on biopsy using distinct dermatopathologic features. These include a pagetoid appearance of melanocytes, melanocyte atypia, non-uniform pigmentation/distribution of melanocytes, and increased melanocyte density in a background of extensive photodamage. Advancements in immunohistochemical staining techniques, including soluble adenylyl cyclase (antibody R21), makes diagnosis easier and allows the definition of borders down to a single cell. After a pathologic diagnosis, there are a variety of treatment options, both surgical and non-surgical. Although surgical removal with a wide excision border is the preferred treatment due to decreased recurrence rates, experimental combination therapies are gaining popularity. However, no matter the treatment, LM/LMM carries a high recurrence rate, and patients must be monitored rigorously for recurrence as well as the appearance of additional skin lesions/cancers.