Spitz nevus

Spitz ne·vus

(spits),
a benign, slightly pigmented or red superficial small skin tumor composed of spindle-shaped, epithelioid, and multinucleated cells that may appear atypical; most common in children, but also appearing in adults.
Synonym(s): benign juvenile melanoma, epithelioid cell nevus, spindle cell nevus
Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

Spitz nevus

Epithelioid and/or spindle-cell–nevomelanocytic nevus A benign compound nevus on the face of children and young adults Clinical Average 8 mm in diameter and present in various guises–eg, a smooth elastic, pink-tan papule that flattens with external pressure, lightly pigmented papule, nevus or nevi arising in a large congenital nevomelanocytic nevus, in clusters, etc Treatment Excision
McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Spitz ne·vus

(spits nē'vŭs)
A benign, slightly pigmented or red, superficial, small skin tumor composed of spindle-shaped, epithelioid, and multinucleated cells that may appear atypical; more common in children, but also appears in adults.
Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

Spitz,

Sophie, U.S. pathologist, 1910-1956.
Spitz nevus - a benign, slightly pigmented or red superficial small skin tumor. Synonym(s): epithelioid cell nevus; spindle cell nevus
Medical Eponyms © Farlex 2012
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References in periodicals archive ?
(7) The accurate classification of a lesion as AST is challenging and often requires assimilation of the clinical presentation, histology, and ancillary studies to differentiate AST from ordinary Spitz nevus and melanoma.
Atypical Spitz Tumors: A Diagnostic Challenge
If a physician is biopsying a possible Spitz nevus, be sure the biopsy includes the lateral edges and enough of the dermis that the pathologist can make a good assessment.
New data shed light on melanoma in children. (Sun Exposure Questions Persist)
Cytopathology of a Spitz nevus in a child may show an alarming display of nuclear atypia, especially at the dermal-epidermal junction, but "vertically oriented aggregations of melanocytes get smaller as they go deeper."
Cytopathology differentiates melanoma, Spitz nevus. (In Children Under 10 Years)
Differentiation of Spitz nevus from spitzoid melanoma can be problematic, as exemplified by the number of cases sent for consultation.
Immunohistochemistry in Dermatopathology
In most cases, the histologic differential diagnosis was between Spitz nevus and spitzoid melanoma or between atypical nevus (such as variants of deep penetrating/clonal/inverted type-A nevus, pigmented spindle cell nevus, atypical genital nevus, atypical conjunctival nevus showing cytologic atypia, mitotic activity, limited maturation, or proliferative nodules, among others) and nevoid melanoma (Table 1).
Correlation between histologic assessment and fluorescence in situ hybridization using MelanoSITE in evaluation of histologically ambiguous melanocytic lesions
Spindlecell and epithelioid cell nevi with atypia and metastasis (malignant Spitz nevus).
Nevus/melanocytoma/ melanoma? Nosologic chaos
Subsequent studies showed that the large bulky Spitz nevi, with sclerotic changes at the base, were morphologically the most likely type of Spitz nevus to carry this isolated gain in 11p.
Update on fluorescence in situ hybridization in melanoma: state of the art
CAN ARRAY COMPARATIVE GENOMIC HYBRIDIZATION DIFFERENTIATE MELANOMA FROM SPITZ NEVUS?
Molecular diagnostics in melanoma: current status and perspectives
Melanoma.--The most challenging diagnosis is the subtype spitzoid melanoma (SM), which clinically and histopathologically resembles Spitz nevus. (44) Lack of uniform opinion on which features enable this discrimination and absence of studies for validation of presumptive criteria (63) lead to misdiagnosis for up to 40% of children eventually found to have the disease.
Melanoma in children
(28) It is usually associated with a common compound or dermal nevus, or, much less frequently, Spitz nevus. (23,29) Sclerosing (Desmoplastic) Blue Nevus Sclerosing BN, also known as a desmoplastic blue nevus, is an important morphologic variant of BN, which must not be confused with desmoplastic melanoma or a soft tissue tumor.
Blue nevi and variants: an update
They include superficial and deep melanocytic proliferations with features reminiscent of Spitz nevus.
Nevus/melanocytoma/melanoma: an emerging paradigm for classification of melanocytic neoplasms?
(5) Most studies indicate that there are no BRAF mutations in Spitz nevus (27-34); however, 1 study (35) reported that 21% (10/48) of Spitz nevi harbor a BRAF mutation, as compared to 15% (2/13) of spitzoid melanoma from the same study.
Molecular pathogenesis of sporadic melanoma and melanoma-initiating cells

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