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Abstract

Numerous genetic and molecular profiling tests have been developed for both melanoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC). We aimed to assess dermatopathologists’ familiarity with and utilization of these tests. We conducted a cross-sectional electronic survey of all dermatopathologists on the American Society of Dermatopathology listserv. We received 122 complete responses from board-certified dermatopathologists. The training background of our respondents was 54.9% dermatology-trained and 45.1% pathology-trained. Familiarity and utilization were rated on a 0–4 Likert scale (0 = never/not familiar, 4 = always/extremely familiar). The mean familiarity with gene expression profile (GEP) testing, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) testing, and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) was 2.8, 2.8, and 2.6 respectively. When asked for frequency of biopsies following adhesive patch tests for melanoma-linked genes, respondents stated never (45.6%), daily (1.8%), weekly (6.1%), monthly (26.3%), and yearly (20.2%). Respondents rated the frequency of use of commercial 40GEP RT-PCR testing to stratify risk of cSCC metastasis as never (49.2%), rarely (16.4%), occasional (11.5%), frequently (1.6%), always (0%), and at the clinician’s request (21.3%).  We saw no statistically significant difference in the results between dermatology-trained and pathology-trained dermatopathologists. There was also no statistically significant difference in the results based on geographic areas. This study highlights the wide spectrum of utilization of and familiarity with these emerging testing modalities.