Association of Vulvar Melanoma with Lichen Sclerosus.

Abstract

1https://www.medicaljournals.se/acta/content/abstract/10.2340/00015555-3103 Lichen sclerosus (LS) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease presenting mainly on the anogenital area. The prevalence of LS has been estimated as 1:300 to 1:900, and even higher in elderly women (1, 2). The life-time risk of female patients with LS developing vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is 4–5% (1). Vulvar melanoma is rare, with an incidence of 0.10–0.13 per 100,000 individuals, presenting typically in post-menopausal women (3, 4). In Finland, the incidence of vulvar melanoma between years 2010 and 2014 was 0.08–0.12 per 100,000 individuals (The Finnish Cancer Registry: data upon request), which is in line with other vulvar melanoma incidence studies. Reports on vulvar melanoma among patients with LS are few. So far, 4 cases have been described among adult patients and 6 cases in prepubertal girls (3, 5, 6). The aim of this study was to clarify the possible connection between LS and vulvar melanoma.