Preface

Our goal in writing this textbook is to provide a unique teaching tool that tests the reader’s fund of knowledge in cutaneous clinicopathologic correlation through a series of hypothetical clinical vignettes. This type of resource is currently not available for dermatopathology. Use of this book provides self-assessment and a comprehensive review of the pertinent clinical and histopathological conditions encountered in community and academic dermatopathology practice. We view this work as an engaging middle-ground text and atlas that includes a large number of standard clinical and pathology images drawn from many sources into a single volume. These images are typical of those shown on board certification examinations in dermatology, pathology, and dermatopathology, as well as conditions commonly encountered by dermatologists and dermatopathologists in clinical practice.

In conjunction with many supplementary images, the text uses hundreds of photomicrographs from Dermatopathology, 3rd ed., Raymond L. Barnhill, Editor-in-Chief, widely acknowledged as the best resource for a conceptual approach and differential diagnosis in this field. Additionally, this work is used as an organizational framework for the content included within each chapter. We would like this textbook to be used as a testing/teaching tool and a reference guide for routine clinical practice, and thus we have included a searchable index that references various keywords and phrases (shown in bold) within the body of the text. Each question is accompanied by a detailed explanation discussing essential clinical and histopathological differential diagnoses for quick access and ease of use. The text contains more than 400 illustrated questions encompassing over 700 diagnostic entities, many of which include a summary table for rapid review or small “quick fact” tables highlighting important diagnostic findings. The images included in the questions and answers throughout this textbook are hypothetical and do not necessarily come from the same patient. In addition to the clinical scenarios applied to these case studies, each may not reflect the real-life clinical presentation or clinical course experienced by the patient shown in the images. However, they are typical or “classic” presentations of each corresponding condition.

The target audience for this book includes dermatopathology fellows, dermatology and pathology residents, medical students, and more generally dermatologists, pathologists, and dermatopathologists.

We would like to acknowledge the associate editors of the third edition of Dermatopathology, Drs. Crowson, Magro, and Piepkorn, whose contributions have had significant influence directly and indirectly on the content of Barnhill’s Dermatopathology Challenge. In addition, we acknowledge and thank all the contributors of Dermatopathology in its previous editions and any influences they have had on this new work. We would also like to thank Dr. Andrea Suarez, Department of Dermatology, Weill Cornell Medical College, for contributing various tables containing mnemonics and acronyms. Lastly, we would like to acknowledge the editors and contributors of Fitzpatrick’s Dermatology in General Medicine, 8th ed., for the numerous clinical photographs included in this new book. We are enormously grateful to these individuals and thank them most sincerely.