Skip to content

How would you treat this cyst on a patient with a history of BCC?

What would you do? A 64-year-old male presents with a cyst on his back & has a personal history of basal cell carcinoma & a family history of melanoma. Join the case discussion!

Author
HealthCert Education
1 minute read

In this week’s case discussion from Dr Heather Lawson, we look at a 64-year-old male patient with a personal history of basal cell carcinoma 10 years ago and a family history of a father with melanoma. The patient presented to Dr Lawson’s clinic for the first time after being referred by his GP for removal of a cyst on his back. The cyst had been growing over the past six months.

When Dr Lawson examined the lesion, she felt it was more likely to be solid than cystic, so she excised it in its entirety, different from how she excises cysts (whereby she cuts a small ellipse in the centre of the cyst). The lesion was solid.

What are your thoughts on the potential diagnosis?

clinical image 1 May 2023 Dermoscopy image 1 May 2023

Update

Here is the pathology report:

Pathology-result 1 May 2023

A note from Dr Heather Lawson:

I really thought this was a melanoma. I have seen a 2cm thick spindle cell melanoma that looked like a cyst to two of the patient’s GPs, resulting in a 5 month delay in excision. I have researched that Dermatofibromas can be up to 15mm wide, but I have never seen one like this before. I did ask the pathologist to recheck, and the diagnosis was the same.

For further information on this topic, you may be interested to learn more about the HealthCert Professional Diploma program in Skin Cancer Medicine.

Submit-your-case-259-×-200-px-300x232-2Would you like to share your experience with your colleagues in the weekly blog case discussion, moderated by Dr Terry Harvey?

 Participate with your cases so that we can learn together!

Submit your case here or send details to admin@healthcert.com

Comments

Related posts

Get in touch with us

Our Education Advisors can assist you with any queries and tailor our education pathway to suit your current expertise, interests and career goals.

Ask a question