Nevus spilus and melanoma: what we know today? Nevo spilus y melanoma: ¿qué sabemos hoy?

Although melanoma in a nevus spilusis rare, more than 40 cases have been reported in the literature. To explore the evidence of the association between these entities we conducted a literature search covering the years between 1965-2015. We conducted this review, summarizing the characteristics of the host, the melanoma and nevus spilus considering the type of the melanoma and Breslow thickness, type of nevus spilus, topography, gender and age of the patient and the clinical course of the tumor. We found that 72% of all melanomas in a spilus nevus were classified as superficial extensive melanomas and 7,5% were metastatic. Sixty one percent of melanomas occurred in female patients. Invasive tumors have a mean Breslow thickness of 2.4 mm. In women, the lower extremities were the most frequent locations (70 % of cases) while inmen it was the trunk (65%). Based on this we believe that the malignant potential of nevus spilus should be considered in future assessments to monitor this type of nevus as well as we raise awareness of the probable association between melanoma and nevus spilus and thepossible biological differences between the nevus spilus that will develop melanoma and those who will not (Dermatol. Argent., 2015, 21 (3): 174-183).