Characterization of vascular patterns in skin tumours using incident light microscopy

The search for vascular structures in skin tumors by incident light microscopy has revealed a surprisingly high proportion of vascularized tumours. Characteristic vascular patterns, in some cases highly tumour-specific, have been defined. The vascular structure is a valuable feature for characterization and differentiation of skin tumours, especially for amelanotic malignant melanoma. We propose a flowchart procedure for analysis and diagnosis of skin tumours using incident light microscopy, which appears to be valuable for advanced image analytic techniques.