Assessment of the Diagnostic Performance of Clinical Examinations and High-Frequency Ultrasound in Patients With Pigmented Skin Tumors

To investigate whether the integration of high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) to routine clinical examinations could improve diagnostic performance and management decision for pigmented skin tumors.

Three general practitioners trained previously and a dermatologist independently assessed pigmented skin tumors and rendered management decision based on clinical examinations alone or clinical examinations integrating HFUS.

After integrating HFUS, the diagnostic area under the curve (AUC) (0.658-0.693 versus 0.848, all P < .05) and specificity (46.6-58.6% versus 89.7%, all P < .05) for pigmented skin malignancies were improved for general practitioners, meanwhile unnecessary biopsy rate reduced (42.9-53.6% versus 10.7%, P < .001). To the dermatologist, the diagnostic AUC (0.822 versus 0.949, P < .001), sensitivity (81.7% versus 96.7%, P = .012) and specificity (0.828 versus 0.931, P = .031) improved significantly, meanwhile both missed biopsy rate (14.5% versus 4.8%, P = .031) and unnecessary biopsy rate (19.6% versus 7.1%, P = .016) decreased. Additionally, the diagnostic performance of the general practitioner with integrating HFUS could be comparable with the dermatologist based on clinical examinations alone (all P > .05).

As a complementary tool of clinical examinations, HFUS could help physicians differentiate pigmented skin malignancies and manage decision.