Characterization of multiple diagnostic terms in melanocytic skin lesion pathology reports.

Background: Histopathologically ambiguous melanocytic lesions lead some pathologists to list multiple diagnostic considerations in the pathology report. The frequency and circumstance of multiple diagnostic considerations remain poorly characterized.

Methods: Two hundred and forty skin biopsy samples were interpreted by 187 pathologists (8976 independent diagnoses) and classified according to a diagnostic/treatment stratification (MPATH-Dx).

Results: Multiple diagnoses in different MPATH-Dx classes were used in n = 1320 (14.7%) interpretations, with 97% of pathologists and 91% of cases having at least one such interpretation. Multiple diagnoses were more common for intermediate risk lesions and are associated with greater subjective difficulty and lower confidence. We estimate that 6% of pathology reports for melanocytic lesions in the United States contain two diagnoses of different MPATH-Dx prognostic classes, and 2% of cases are given two diagnoses with significant treatment implications.

Conclusions: Difficult melanocytic diagnoses in skin may necessitate multiple diagnostic considerations; however, as patients increasingly access their health records and retrieve pathology reports (as mandated by US law), uncertainty should be expressed unambiguously.