Application of In Vivo Reflectance Confocal Microscopy in the Diagnosis
of Bowen's Disease
Abstract
Bowen’s disease (BD) is a relatively rare early-stage squamous cell
carcinoma in situ, most commonly affecting the middle-aged and elderly,
and occurring on the skin or mucous membranes of various parts of the
body. Its onset is concealed, the course of the disease is chronic, and
some patients are accompanied by malignant tumors outside the skin, so
it is necessary to diagnose and evaluate the disease in its early stage.
This study aims to investigate the application of reflectance confocal
microscopy (RCM) in diagnosing Bowen’s disease. We performed RCM imaging
on the lesion site of 113 patients initially diagnosed with Bowen’s
disease in clinic, of which 92 patients underwent skin biopsy for
histological diagnosis. A retrospective analysis of the RCM result as
well as the histological examination revealed that after analyzing RCM
images, 69 out of 113 patients were diagnosed with Bowen’s disease; out
of 92 biopsy lesions, 61 were Bowen’s disease, of which 54 were
consistent with RCM diagnosis. Among 59 cases diagnosed with Bowen’s
disease by RCM, 54 cases were consistent with histological diagnosis.
Afterwards, we analyzed the RCM characteristics in patients with Bowen’s
disease verified by biopsy, and compared the RCM images of two different
lesions, Classic Bowen’s Disease (CBD) and Pigmented Bowen’s Disease
(PBD), and further summarized the key points of Bowen’s disease under
RCM. Finally, we focused on the differential characteristics between
Bowen’s disease and other skin diseases under RCM. It is found that RCM
is of great value in diagnosing Bowen’s disease.