Melanoma pathology reporting and staging. 

During Dermpath in 15 today, I mentioned a paper about how to handle Breslow thickness measurement of melanoma when there is a deeper focus around a sweat duct or hair follicle. This is the publication I was referring to: 

Dodds TJ, Lo S, Jackett L, Nieweg O, Thompson JF, Scolyer RA. Prognostic Significance of Periadnexal Extension in Cutaneous Melanoma and its Implications for Pathologic Reporting and Staging. Am J Surg Pathol. 2018 Mar;42(3):359-366. doi: 10.1097/PAS.0000000000000999. PMID: 29240580.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29240580/

Here's a quote from a later paper by Scolyer and colleagues summarizing the findings of the Dodds et al article. This paper is a gem! Full text free here: 

https://www.modernpathology.org/article/S0893-3952(22)00716-5/fulltext

"When there is deep periadnexal extension of melanoma as a “tongue” of tumor that extends much more deeply than the main, more superficial part of the dermal invasive melanoma, it is not recommended that such extension be included in the measurement of tumor thickness, unless this represents the only focus on invasion. Recently published data by Dodds et al. [29] provided evidence based on outcome data that periadnexal extension should not be included in tumor thickness measurements. When periadnexal melanoma represents the only focus of invasion, tumor thickness should be measured from the middle of the adnexal structure from where it has likely risen."

Quoted from: 

Scolyer RA, Rawson RV, Gershenwald JE, Ferguson PM, Prieto VG. Melanoma pathology reporting and staging. Mod Pathol. 2020 Jan;33(Suppl 1):15-24. doi: 10.1038/s41379-019-0402-x. Epub 2019 Nov 22. PMID: 31758078.

131 participants joined the 5-Day Soft Tissue Tumors Challenge so far. How about you? Can you find enough motivation to invest in yourself and complete the Challenge before Friday?

To kick off this brand-new chapter of Dermpedia Academy, I want to personally invite you to join our inaugural project: The 5-Day Soft Tissue Tumors Challenge!

This is going to be a fast-paced, interactive way to review complex cases together as a community.

Here is how it works:

• 📅 June 22 - 26: Your mission is to watch a series of short, daily case videos. We will be discussing these cases together every day right here in the Community channel.

• 🔴 June 29th: We will wrap the entire challenge up with a massive Live Session hosted right here on Dermpedia.

How to Enroll:

1. Claim the Free Bundle: Click here https://dermpedia.org/programs/5-day-soft-tissue-tumors-challenge to claim the 5-Day Soft Tissue Tumors Bundle. Check your email afterward for instructions on downloading the Dermpedia mobile app!

2. Come Back on June 22nd: The challenge officially starts on this day. The videos will publish and unlock on your dashboard.

3. Join the Challenge Board: On the 22nd, you will be able to officially join the challenge board in the Community and track your daily progress alongside your peers.

What to do in the meantime? While we count down to the 22nd, feel free to watch my recent Dermpedia Workshop on Soft Tissue Tumors: https://dermpedia.org/programs/sep-18-2025-cutaneous-soft-tissuejerad-gardner-md to get warmed up, and explore all the other incredible content Dermpedia has to offer.

Claim your bundle today, and I will see you in the comments on June 22nd!

Best wishes,

Jerad Gardner, MD

Chair of Dermpedia Academy

Welcome Jerad. I am looking forward to working with you to make Dermpedia more accessible to trainees and junior attendees worldwide. My natural interests are exploring the boundaries of dermpath and sharing experience. You are the best and most dedicated educator of residents and fellows. I will do my best to accomodate you and your students on Dermpedia Academy. This co-incides with my plans for Dermpedia to evolve into a world-wide digital-first dermatopathology professional society. 

Welcome everyone, I'm Dr. Jerad Gardner, and I am absolutely thrilled to officially open the doors to Dermpedia Academy! We've built this dedicated space specifically for trainees, residents, fellows, general surgical pathologists looking to sharpen their dermpath skills, and dermatopathologists who are early in their practice.

Why did we build this?

There is a massive amount of dermatopathology education available online right now, and while that's fantastic, most of it lives on social media platforms that were designed for something else entirely. That means intrusive ads, chaotic feeds, and algorithms competing for your attention instead of supporting your learning.

The Dermpedia Academy Difference

We've built a unique platform designed exclusively for dermatopathology education.

• 🤝 Interactive: It combines the best community networking of Facebook and Twitter.

• 📺 High-Quality: It offers the premium, organized streaming experience of Netflix.

• 🚫 Ad-Free: Zero interruptions and zero distractions.

Most of our content will be free, with some premium offerings to help sustain the platform. Either way, keeping Dermpedia Academy accessible is a top priority, and our Tuition Assistance Program is here to make sure cost is never a barrier for anyone who wants to learn with us.

Introduce yourself!

I'd love to get to know everyone who joins us here. Drop a comment below and tell us a little about you:

• 🌎 Where are you from?

• 🔬 What's your practice or training setting like?

• 🎉 What do you do for fun outside of pathology?

• 💡 What dermpath or soft tissue topics would you most like to see me teach about?

Take a look around, get ready for our first big event, and I am so glad you are here!

Warmly,

Jerad Gardner, M.D.

Chair of Dermpedia Academy