Microcystic adnexal carcinoma (MAC) is a rare adnexal tumor with eccrine and pillar differentiations with a localized and aggressive nature, often misdiagnosed as other dermatoses. The most common clinical manifestations of MAC are yellowish or skin-colored papules, nodules, and plaques. However, in some rare cases an atypical manifestation such as ulceration that resembles malignancies such as basal cell carcinoma (BCC) can also occur. Diagnosis of MAC mainly relies on the aid of histopathology. Due to potential infiltration to other structures such as in perineural invasion, wide surgical excision or Mohs micrographic surgery is the preferred surgical option. We report the case of a 75-year-old male patient with ulcerative lesion on the forehead that clinically resembled BCC in addition to typical dermoscopic findings of BCC. However, histopathology confirmed a diagnosis of MAC, prompting physicians to be more aware of this condition when encountering chronic ulcerative lesions. After wide excision and a 1-year follow-up, the patient exhibited no signs of recurrences and will continue long-term follow-up.
Introduction: This bibliometric analysis evaluates the most influential studies in clinical research on melanoma.
Methods: Based on the bibliometric theory, articles in the Thomson Reuters Web of Science database were analyzed. Full English-language articles were searched for using the terms melanoma, superficial spreading melanoma, nodular melanoma, lentigo maligna melanoma, and acral lentiginous melanoma. The 100 most-cited articles were analyzed by topic, author, journal of publication, year of publication, institution, and country of origin.
Results: The search returned 243,109 articles, with the majority from the past 3 decades: 1991-2000 (n = 29), 2001-2010 (n = 28), and 2011-2020 (n = 30). The top 100 cited articles had mean and median citations of 2,159 and 1,793, respectively. An article on the use of ipilimumab in metastatic melanoma, by Hodi et al., was most cited (8,150). The New England Journal of Medicine had the most citations (58,489), and Nature published the most articles (n = 21). The United States published the most articles (n = 81), led by the National Cancer Institute (n = 16). The majority of articles explored management (n = 68), prognosis (n = 57), and immunotherapy (n = 27).
Conclusions: This analysis serves as a guide for future research and highlights key areas of research, particularly in genetics and immunotherapy, that have influenced current knowledge of melanoma.