Dermatology: Practical and Conceptual


Observation  |  Dermatol Pract Concept 2017;7(2):11 51

DERMATOLOGY PRACTICAL & CONCEPTUAL
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Introduction

Pedunculated basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is a rare BCC vari-

ant. There have been limited cases reported in the PubMed 

database [1-6]. Dermoscopic features were reported in only 

one of them [6] and not one described reflectance confocal 

microscopy (RCM) features.

Case

A 7 x 5 mm slight brown-gray pigmented pedunculated lesion 

was detected on the right post-auricular region on the routine 

skin examination of a 60-year-old woman. She had a history 

of multiple BCCs due to radiotherapy for the treatment of 

lymphoma in childhood. The lesion displayed arborizing 

vessels, multiple blue-gray globules and ovoid nests on der-

moscopy (Figure 1).

On RCM, at the epidermal layer, polarization (stream-

ing) and some dendritic cells and at the dermoepidermal 

junctional level, and multiple tumor islands with different 

sizes were observed. In addition, there were many canalicular 

vessels all throughout the lesion (Vivascope 3000 Handheld, 

Mavig GmbH, Munich, Germany). A pedunculated nodular 

BCC was diagnosed with the large basaloid tumor islands 

with peripheral palisading and retraction artifact and dilated 

vascular spaces on histopathology (Figure 2).

The differential diagnosis of pigmented pedunculated 

lesion may sometimes be challenging and include an acro-

chordon, seborrheic keratosis, condyloma, dermal nevus, 

BCC, eccrine poroma or trichoblastoma. Moreover, a pedun-

culated melanoma should also be excluded. Thus, in vivo 

diagnostic techniques such as dermoscopy and RCM may 

play a crucial role in the differential diagnosis.

Dermoscopy and reflectance confocal microscopy 
in pedunculated basal cell carcinoma

Seda Yildiz1, Isil Karaarslan1, Banu Yaman2, Fezal Ozdemir1

1 Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ege, Izmir, Turkey

2 Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ege, Izmir, Turkey

Key words: dermoscopy, reflectance confocal micoscopy, basal cell carcinoma

Citation: Yildiz S, Karaarslan I, Yaman B, Ozdemir F. Dermoscopy and reflectance confocal microscopy in pedunculated basal cell 
carcinoma. Dermatol Pract Concept. 2017;7(2):11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5826/dpc.0702a11

Received: January 9, 2017; Accepted: January 14, 2017; Published: April 30, 2017

Copyright: ©2017 Seda et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, 
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: None.

Competing interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

All authors have contributed significantly to this publication.

Corresponding author: Seda Yildiz, MD, Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ege, 35100, Bornova, Izmir, 
Turkey. Tel. +902323902698; Fax: +902323399702. Email: yildizsda@gmail.com

There have been limited cases of pedunculated basal cell carcinoma (BCC) reported in the literature. 
The dermoscopic features were described in only one of them. However, not one of them described the 
confocal microscopy features. In this report we presented a case of pedunculated basal cell carcinoma 
(BCC) with dermoscopic and reflectance confocal microscopy features.

ABSTRACT



52 Observation  |  Dermatol Pract Concept 2017;7(2):11

There have been rare cases of pedun-

culated BCC reported in the literature. 

Dermoscopic features were mentioned 

in only one report describing multiple 

acrochordon-like BCCs in a patient with 

Gorlin-Goltz syndrome [6]. In that case, 

the dermoscopic features observed were 

multiple or isolated gray-blue globules 

and/or telangiectases of different caliber 

and number of branches. Other dermo-

scopic features of BCC, such as ulcer-

ation, maple leaf-like areas, or spoke-

wheel areas, were not detected. The 

dermoscopic features observed in the 

present case were similar to those find-

ings. On the other hand, RCM findings 

were not described in any of the cases 

in the literature. In the present case, 

observing the typical RCM criteria for 

BCC helped in making a more confident 

preoperative diagnosis. To our knowl-

edge, this is the first RCM description 

of a pedunculated BCC.

References

1.  Megahed M. Polypoid basal cell carci-

noma: a new clinicopathological variant. 

Br J Dermatol. 1999;140(4):701-703.

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Giant polypoid basal cell carcinoma with 

features of fibroepithelioma of Pinkus and 

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3. Misago N, Narisawa Y. Polypoid Basal 

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4.  Azzam C, Arrese JE, Jacquemin D, Cal-

teux N, Piérard GE. Pedunculated and pig-

mented basal cell carcinoma: an unusual 

presentation]. Rev Med Liege. 2006;61 

(9):614-616.

5. Repertinger SK, Stevens T, Markin N, et 

al. Fibroepithelioma of Pinkus with pleo-

morphic epithelial giant cells. Dermatol 

Online J. 2008;14(12):13.

6.  Feito-Rodríguez M, Sendagorta-Cudós 

E, Moratinos-Martínez M, et al. Derma-

toscopic characteristics of acrochordon-

like basal cell carcinomas in Gorlin-Goltz 

syndrome. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2009; 

60(5):857-861.

Figure 1. (a, b) Slight brown-gray pigmented pedunculated lesion. (c, d) Arborizing vessels, 

multiple blue-gray globules and ovoid nests on dermoscopy. [Copyright: ©2017 Seda et al.]

A B

C D

Figure 2. (a) Bright tumor island (red arrows). (b) Epidermal polarization. (c) Tumor island 

and canalicular vessels. (d) Atrophic epidermis, large basaloid tumor islands and melano-

phages (H&Ex40) (Inset: Pedunculated nodular BCC [H&Ex20]). [Copyright: ©2017 Seda 

et al.]

A B

C D