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In vivo confocal microscopy useful in noninvasive diagnosis of eyelid margin lesions
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In vivo confocal microscopy can aid in the noninvasive diagnosis of eyelid margin tumors when used with a handheld, dermatology-specific microscope, researchers reported.
Elisa Cinotti
Researchers prospectively analyzed the in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy (IVCM) features of 47 eyelid margin lesions suspected of malignancy. Among the lesions, 35 were excised and the other 12, which did not have any IVCM malignant features, were followed up for 1 year. The researchers compared clinical, IVCM and histologic diagnoses.
Through their analysis, the researchers found IVCM had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 69.2% for malignancy, including basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma.
Both dermatologists and ophthalmologists found 16 of the lesions to be clinically challenging. Conversely, three further malignancies were diagnosed clinically as benign lesions.
None of the 12 nonexcised lesions were found to have any clinical progression, according to the researchers.
“IVCM is extremely useful to confirm the clinical diagnosis of eyelid margin tumors and in clinically challenging cases,” the researchers wrote. “IVCM is equally useful during the follow-up after surgery of tumors from the eyelid margin, an area where surgical margins are often small for anatomic reasons.”
Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.
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