Recently, under the leadership of Professor Chen Xiang, Professor Chen Mingliang and Associate Professor Su Juan,the melanoma team of Xiangya Hospital of Central South University published a Case Report (Images in Clinical Medicine) entitled “A Bleeding Toe” in theNew England Journal of Medicine(IF: 70.67). Dr. Zhao Keshuang and Dr. Luo Zhongling from the Department of Dermatology are the corresponding author and the first author, respectively.
Melanoma is a lethal skin disease with a high degree of malignancy and high potential of invasion and metastasis. With the complex etiology, this disease often has insidious onset. Some cases may be caused by malignant pigmented nevus, trauma, or improper treatment. It has attracted widespread attention in recent years. The paper reported a case of right foot toenail with intermittent bleeding due to traumatic injury, which did not heal, and the red nodules formed under nail was gradually increased and led to ulceration. The clinical manifestations were easily confused with diseases such as purulent granuloma. This patient was diagnosed with melanoma, confirmed by surgical resection and pathological examination. He received treatment with interferon after surgery and had no evidence of recurrence in the three-year follow-up. The paper specifically pointed out that due to the lack of awareness and diagnosis and treatment experience of melanoma among grass roots physicians, physical methods such as electrocoagulation, freezing, and laser are often used to directly remove such hemorrhagic granulomatous skin lesions with little or no pigment, resulting in failure to take appropriate pathological tissue in the future, which greatly delays the diagnosis and treatment of patients and seriously affects the prognosis. In this case, biopsy should be taken during initial diagnosis to avoid delay in diagnosis. In addition, the role of trauma in the occurrence and development of melanoma cannot be ignored, especially for nail/toenail lesions with previous history of trauma or skin lesion changes after trauma, and melanoma must be included in the scope of diagnostic considerations and emphasized with high vigilance.
The research team of the Department of Dermatology of Xiangya Hospital has focused on basic research and clinical diagnosis and treatment of skin tumors for nearly 20 years. This team has been supported by more than ten national scientific research funds and published more than 100 related research papers. The team led the organization of the Skin Tumor Research Center of the Dermatology and Venereology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association and the Skin Cancer Professional Committee of the Dermatologist Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctors Association. The Xiangya Skin Tumor Forum is held regularly each year to carry out skin cancer science education and training for grass roots physicians. In 2019, Xiangya International Melanoma Research Union was established by the top nine scholars from the United States, Australia, Japan, and South Korea. Under the leadership of Associate Professor Su Juan and Professor Chen Mingliang, the melanoma MDT team of Xiangya Hospital, has strived for clinical diagnosis and treatment of melanoma patients in partnership with the experts in oncology, plastic surgery, burns, radiology, ultrasound imaging, nuclear medicine and orthopedics. After years of development, more than 200 melanoma patients are treated annually. The team methodically carries out basic research, artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis, tumor immunotherapy, and drug research and development.
Source: Xiangya Hospital
