Journal article
High-frequency ultrasound accuracy in preoperative cutaneous melanoma assessment: A meta-analysis
Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, Vol.39(1), pp.86-96
01/2025
DOI: 10.1111/jdv.20179
PMCID: PMC11664467
PMID: 38967397
Appears in UI Libraries Support Open Access
Abstract
Background
High-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) can safely and efficiently visualize cutaneous tumour characteristics including depth.
Objectives
We aimed to evaluate its accuracy in measuring melanoma depth against the gold standard, histopathology, for treatment planning.
Methods
A review of publications was conducted in March 2023 through five electronic databases. Thirty-six included articles studied patients who received HFUS (≥10 MHz) measurements, melanoma biopsy or excision, and reported a tumour depth correlation coefficient between HFUS and histopathology. We analysed correlation coefficients between HFUS and histopathology, measured tumour depths and shed light on reasons for mismeasurements. Additionally, we identified the reporting of critical metrics including, lesion characteristics, melanoma subtype, type of correlation coefficient, 95% confidence intervals for Pearson coefficients and sample size.
Results
The most common tumour imaged was superficial spreading melanoma on the trunk and extremities, followed by head/face. Maximum ultrasound frequencies ranged from 13 MHz to 100 MHz with participants ranging from 5 to 264. Histopathology and HFUS correlation coefficients ranged from 0.417 to 0.997 (median: 0.94, mean: 0.89 and SD: 0.13). Lower frequency probes (10–20 MHz) were less accurate in assessing melanoma thickness, with a cumulative mean correlation coefficient of 0.87 compared to 0.94 (20–25 MHz) and 0.98 (≥70 MHz). Studies demonstrated higher sonographic accuracy in melanomas >0.75 mm.
Additionally, ultrasound may report increased melanoma depth compared to histopathology for reasons including lymphocytic infiltration, presence of a nevus and shrinkage during specimen processing. Furthermore, we found a gap in the reporting of details such as fundamental characteristics of lesion populations. Specifically, 86% (31 out of 36) of the studies failed to report one or more critical metrics, such as mean, median or range of lesion depths.
Conclusions
HFUS may serve as a supplementary tool for preoperative melanoma assessment, with increased accuracy in thicker tumours. Frequencies <20 MHz are less reliable in assessing depth. Frequencies ≥70 MHz demonstrate stronger correlations to histopathology. Higher ultrasound accuracy was seen for melanomas with Breslow depth >0.75 mm.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- High-frequency ultrasound accuracy in preoperative cutaneous melanoma assessment: A meta-analysis
- Creators
- Georgina E Sellyn - Vanderbilt UniversityAndrea A LopezShramana GhoshMichael C Topf - Vanderbilt University Medical CenterHeidi Chen - VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare SystemEric Tkaczyk - Vanderbilt UniversityJennifer G Powers - University Hospital and Clinics
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, Vol.39(1), pp.86-96
- DOI
- 10.1111/jdv.20179
- PMID
- 38967397
- PMCID
- PMC11664467
- NLM abbreviation
- J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol
- ISSN
- 1468-3083
- eISSN
- 1468-3083
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 07/05/2024
- Date published
- 01/2025
- Academic Unit
- Dermatology
- Record Identifier
- 9984651258902771
Metrics
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