Role of modern imaging techniques for the in vivo diagnosis of lichen planus.

Role of modern imaging techniques for the in vivo diagnosis of lichen planus. Exp Ther Med. 2019 Feb;17(2):1052-1060 Authors: Ianoși SL, Forsea AM, Lupu M, Ilie MA, Zurac S, Boda D, Ianosi G, Neagoe D, Tutunaru C, Popa CM, Caruntu C Abstract Lichen planus (LP) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that can sometimes affect mucosal surfaces, with unknown pathogenesis, even though it appears to be an autoimmune disease. The diagnosis of lichen planus is usually based on histopathological examination of the lesions. Nowadays, the classical invasive diagnostic methods are replaced by modern non-invasive techniques. In this review, we present the main non-invasive imaging methods (dermoscopy, reflectance confocal microscopy, optical coherence tomography, ultrasound and diffuse reflection spectrophotometry) used in the diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of lichen planus. Dermoscopy is a non-invasive method initially used for diagnosis of pigmented tumors but now is used also for inflammatory and infectious skin diseases. In lichen planus, the dermoscopy increases the accuracy of diagnosis, avoids skin biopsies commonly used and can be useful in the therapeutic monitoring by repeated investigation at different stages of treatment. Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is a novel non-invasive imaging technique that is prevalently used for the diagnosis of skin tumors and inflammatory skin diseases. This technology has been mostly employe...
Source: Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine - Category: General Medicine Tags: Exp Ther Med Source Type: research