[Frontiers of the histopathologic diagnosis of pigmentary nevus/malignant melanoma in children. Apropos of 5 cases].

The authors report 5 observations of melanocytic nevus (MN) in children, representing a stereotyped "entity" both clinically and histologically. They are characterized by their dark colour and their rapid extension, resembling a beginning malignant melanoma "in situ" Histologically, these MN present a particular "aggressiveness" for the whole epidermis, with large nests of fusiform, regular and pigmented cells. These observations are discussed in regard to the juvenile malignant melanoma, the dysplastic nevus syndrome, the pigmented spindle-cell nevus, the Spitz nevus and overall the "solitary active junctional nevus" of the child.