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Path report

This topic has 1 reply, 1 voice, and was last updated 7 years, 7 months ago by Janner.

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- November 11, 2017 at 1:56 am
- Quote
Sherbear
Participant
So I had my path report back for a few miles and one said lentigious junctional nevus no atypia and clear margins. The other said lentigious compound dysplastic nevus with mild to moderate atypia. Clear margins. My Derm didn’t seem worried. I have had stage 1a melanoma and have had many mild to moderate dysplastic moles. But from googling the lentigious junctional nevus no atypia I find nothing. I asked a dermpath person at my dental office I work (he’s a patient). He said it’s just a thin normal mole and he uses that term all the time for thin dark moles. But a nurse told me it’s a precursor to melanoma and that scared me to have two separate answers. So does anyone know if that term is just a benign mole as I was told or is it a premelanoma? Why no urgency if it is? Hoping Janet can give input too as I know has had many dysplastic as I have.

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- - November 12, 2017 at 4:39 pm
  - Quote
  Janner
  Participant
  Pre-melanoma is a misnomer. Some people call any atypical mole a pre-melanoma, but that's not true. Pre-melanoma inplies that, if left alone, this mole will turn into melanoma. That is basically untrue because it's only a tiny percentage of all atypical moles that will EVER become melanoma. Severely atypical have the highest likelihood. Changing lesions are suspect just because you don't know how they will end up but again that is not a guarantee, just a warning. I've had several changing moles NOT be melanoma.
  
  Lentigo is a pigmented macule surrounded by normal skin. Junctional just describes where the macules are located – at the junction between the epidermis and dermis. Atypia defines if the cells start showing atypical features or if the architecture is atypical i.e. arranging themselves in nests. So by itself, lentigious junctional nevus is really a descriptive term and it's a normal mole. You really only pay attention when they start describing atypical cells/features. Please don't over-analyze this stuff and why would you take the word of a nurse over a dermpath when discussing pathology?

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