Dr. Riccardo Pampena

Dr. Riccardo Pampena
Skin Cancer Unit of the Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova of Reggio Emilia, Italia

Pediatric melanoma: a systematic review and individual patient meta-analysis
Author: Riccardo Pampena

The clinical and dermoscopic features of the vast majority of uncommon variants of cutaneous melanoma have been rarely reported, leading to difficulty in making accurate diagnoses.
We conducted A 2-step systematic review of the literature was performed (from inception to November 2018) using PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases. The first step identified those uncommon variants of melanoma for which at least 1 case reporting dermoscopy was described in the literature. In the second step, each previously identified uncommon variant was searched for in the same databases.
In total, 62 articles met the inclusion criteria, reporting 433 melanoma cases. An additional 56 cases of uncommon melanoma variants were retrieved from the institution’s database for a total of 489 cases: 283 cases of amelanotic superficial spreading melanoma, 18 cases of animal-type and pigmented epithelioid melanocytoma, 7 cases of balloon cell melanoma, 71 cases of desmoplastic melanoma, 3 cases of follicular melanoma, 10 cases of nested melanoma, 33 cases of nevoid melanoma, 2 cases of primary dermal melanoma, 57 cases of spitzoid melanoma, and 5 cases of verrucous melanoma. Clinically, these tumors were mainly palpable or amelanotic lesions that could resemble other benign or malignant skin conditions; dermoscopy typically revealed a homogeneous pinkish background, white structures, and polymorphic vessels. Uncommon melanoma variants may resemble both inflammatory disorders and other cutaneous neoplasms, representing a diagnostic pitfall even for the most experienced dermatologist.

Scurt CV

Dr. Riccardo Pampena is a board-certified Dermatologist specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of skin cancers.
He obtained his degree in Surgery and Medicine (MD) from the Medicine University of the Sacred Heart of Rome in 2011 with full mark; then, he trained and became a board Certified Dermatologist (full mark) of the Department of Dermatology and Venereology of the Sapienza University of Rome, in 2016 defending a thesis on the role of Dermoscopy in predicting the efficacy of ingenol mebutate therapy for actinic keratosis.
Since 2011 he practices research mainly in the field of psoriasis and non-invasive diagnosis in dermato-oncology, paying particular attention to the study of melanoma and pigmented skin lesions by means of non-invasive methods, such as dermoscopy and confocal microscopy for the in vivo and ex vivo study of cytological and architectural aspects of pigmented skin lesions, in correlation with histopathology.
Since November 2016, Dr. Pampena has been working at the Skin Cancer Unit of the Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova of Reggio Emilia, which is a third-level referral center for skin tumors diagnosis and management and recently became a Board Member of the International Dermoscopy Society. The collaboration of Dr. Pampena with the Skin Cancer Unit of Reggio Emilia started in January 2015 with a 2-month fellowship performed during his residency in Dermatology and Venereology.
Furthermore, he’s actively involved, as a researcher and statistician, in scientific studies. He also attended specific courses in Biostatistics and Cochrane Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis.