Immunohistochemical staining in the assessment of melanoma tumor thickness

Background:Vertical tumor thickness is the most important prognostic factor in malignant melanoma. Thevalue of immunohistochemical stain in measurement of tumor thickness is under debate.Objective: To compare maximum tumor thickness in invasive malignant melanoma in H&Eand immunohistochemical stains.Materials and Methods:Of 74 invasive melanoma tissue blocks, 36 cases were enrolled. In each lesion, four adjacenttissue sections were obtained and stained with H&E as well as immunomarkers of S-100,HMB-45, and Melan A. Berslow tumor thickness was measured and compared between H&Eand IHC sections.Results:In H&E sections, the mean Berslow index was measured 2.15 mm that was significantlylower than S-100 (Mean Difference: 0.22, 95% Confidence Interval: 0.099-0.348 mm;p=0.001) as well as Melan-A (MD: 0.13, 95% CI: 0.023-0.237 mm; p=0.018) values.However, no difference was found between H&E and HMB-45 (p=0.278). T score wasincreased in 8 lesions (22.2%) by S-100, 7 lesions (19.4%) by Melan-A, and 6 lesions(16.6%) by HMB-45 stain.Conclusion:Immunohistochemical staining can improve the accuracy of tumor thickness measurement ininvasive malignant melanoma.

کلیدواژه ها:

Berslow index ، Hematoxylin and Eosin stain ، Immunohistochemical stain ، Invasive ، Malignant Melanoma ، Tumor thickness