Find in Library

<i>Background and objectives</i>: Dermoscopy is a useful tool for the early and non-invasive diagnosis of skin malignancies. Besides many progresses, heavily pigmented and amelanotic skin tumors remain still a challenge. We aimed to investigate by dermoscopy if distinctive morphologic characteristics of vessels may help the diagnosis of equivocal nodular lesions. <i>Materials and Methods:</i> A collage of 16 challenging clinical and dermoscopic images of 8 amelanotic and 8 heavily pigmented nodular melanomas and basal cell carcinomas was sent via e-mail to 8 expert dermoscopists. <i>Results:</i> Dermoscopy improved diagnostic accuracy in 40 cases. Vessels were considered the best clue in 71 cases. Focusing on the diameter of vessels improved diagnosis in 5 cases. <i>Conclusions:</i> vascular diameter in addition to morphology and arrangement may be a useful dermoscopic clue for the differential diagnosis of clinically equivocal nodular malignant tumors.