need help with your account or subscription? click here to email us (or see the contact page)
join telegramNEW! discord
jump to exam page:
search for anything ⋅ score predictor (โ€œpredict me!โ€)

Retired NBME 21 Answers

nbme21/Block 3/Question#25 (reveal difficulty score)
A 32-year-old woman comes to the physician ...
Dysplastic nevi ๐Ÿ” / ๐Ÿ“บ / ๐ŸŒณ / ๐Ÿ“–
tags:

 Login (or register) to see more


 +14  upvote downvote
submitted by โˆ—hungrybox(1277)
get full access to all contentpick a username

Dysplastic nevi are a precursor to melanoma. They have irregular, "dysplastic" borders. Remember the "B" in ABCD stands for irregular Borders. Nevus means mole.

Other answers:

  • acanthosis nigricans - Darkening of skin associated with Type II diabetes mellitus

  • basal cell carcinoma of skin - Rarely, if ever metastasizes. Commonly affects upper lip.

  • blue nevus - Blue-colored type of common mole. Benign.

  • pigmented seborrheic keratosis - "Stuck on" appearance. Mostly benign. Affects older people.

  • (Note - you usually see only one. If multiple seborrheic keratoses are seen, it indicates a GI malignancy - aka "Leser-Trรฉlat sign)
get full access to all contentpick a username
usmleuser007  correction ~ BCC affects the lower lip more than the upper +2
sympathetikey  Pathoma says upper lip, good sir +29
hungrybox  Yeah basal cell carcinoma actually affects the upper lip. Counterintuitive because it's "basal" which seems to go along with the lower lip. Here's another source (this website is fucking gold btw): https://step1.medbullets.com/oncology/121593/basal-cell-carcinoma-of-the-skin +6
pg32  Can anyone explain how we can rule out C or E purely based on the question stem? If we read into the question that we are looking for something related to melanoma, then I get why we can rule out C and E. However, the question simply asks which lesion appears on both sun-exposed and nonsun-exposed areas of the patient's skin. I would say that C, D and E can all occur in that distribution pattern. +7
paperbackwriter  @pg32 because it specifies "this patient's skin," and the only ones he is more likely to get than the average person because of his family history are dysplastic nevi +2
teepot123  fa 19 pg 473 +
rockodude  just remember BS. basal cell upper, squamous cell lower +



 +7  upvote downvote
submitted by codyluvr95(6)
get full access to all contentpick a username

Familial dysplastic nevus syndrome is inherited AD and characterized by tons of dysplastic nevi with transformation to malignant melanoma.

get full access to all contentpick a username



 +3  upvote downvote
submitted by โˆ—soph(84)
get full access to all contentpick a username

ok but why is blue nevi wrong? i thought q asks lession in both exposed and unexposed areas.

get full access to all contentpick a username



Must-See Comments from nbme21

nosancuck on Absorption atelectasis
assoplasty on Free T4
seagull on GM2
lnsetick on Apocrine
niboonsh on NMDA receptors are blocked by Mg2+ at the ...
drdoom on Deletion of a hydrophobic amino acid ...
hayayah on HCO3โˆ’ transported in the plasma
mcl on Aortic
notadoctor on Usual interstitial pneumonitis
madojo on Genital herpes
hungrybox on Obstruction of the bile duct
jambo2222 on Lung
hungrybox on Mismatch repair
hungrybox on Hydrochlorothiazide

search for anything NEW!