Precision Molecular Pathology of Melanocytic Lesions

Melanoma results in a significant social impact due to its relatively high mortality and young age of affected patients. During the last two decades there have been several crucial advances providing insight into the molecular alterations responsible for melanoma development. Thus, most melanomas can be classified within several pathways characterized by specific genetic abnormalities. This book describes the most important molecular features of melanocytic lesions with histologic factors that allow us to render a diagnosis of melanoma and related lesions, with special emphasis to the WHO classifications of melanocytic lesions. It serves as a review of the newest information related to the molecular characteristics of melanocytic lesions. Molecular diagnosis has become more vital to the diagnosis of melanomas and other melanocytic lesions, so this book is intended to provide a comprehensive yet concise understanding of emerging molecular advances. Chapters will cover a variety of lesions encountered in practice, including lentigo maligna, acral, mucosal, and desmoplastic melanomas. This text will also include clinical, histologic, and immunohistochemical images whenever appropriate. Precision Molecular Pathology of Melanocytic Lesions describes the current knowledge of melanocytic lesions and serves as an important resource for pathologists, dermatologists, oncologists, and researchers who treat and study patients affected by melanocytic tumors.