Clinicopathological study of skin tumours

Abstract

Background: Skin cancers are relatively uncommon malignancies worldwide, but the incidence of skin cancers has progressively increased over the last few decades. The distinction between benign and malignant neoplasm are more difficult to define when they appear in skin than when found elsewhere and histopathological examination is frequently required to establish a definitive diagnosis. Diagnosis of any skin tumours can be done by correlating clinical features and histological features. The aim and objective were to study age-sex wise distribution, clinical presentation and histopathological spectrum of various skin tumours.Methods: This is a retrospective study of three years conducted in the Department of Pathology, Government Medical College, Aurangabad, India from December 2015 to December 2018. Specimens received from Department of Dermatology were fixed in formalin and after adequately processing the sections were stained routinely with H and E stain and properly evaluated for histopathological examination. This study includes tumors of epidermis along with melanogenic tumors and skin appendageal tumors. The data collected was tabulated, analysed and compared to other similar studies.Results: The study consists of 130 cases. The ratio of male to female was 1.24:1. Head and neck region (48.46%) was the most common site observed where skin lesions were present followed by extremities (37.69%). Most of the malignant tumours were presented with non-healing ulcers (30.76%) and Noduloulcerative lesions (20.33%). Out of 130 cases, 83 (63.84%) were benign whereas 47 (36.15%) were malignant tumour. According to WHO classification, keratinocytic tumour 55 (42.30%) was the most common tumour type in the present study. Skin adnexal tumours and melanocytic tumours were observed in 54 (41.53%) and 21 (16.15%) respectively.Conclusions: The skin is a complex organ. Because of complexity of skin, a wide range of diseases can develop from the skin. The majority of benign neoplasms are from skin adnexal group whereas most common malignant neoplasm were from keratinocytic group. Skin adnexal tumors can occur anywhere in the body, however head and neck region constitute the most common site. Skin adnexal tumours are clinically often misdiagnosed, so histopathological examination remains gold standard for their correct diagnosis and for their differentiation between benign and malignant neoplasm.

Skin Tumors among Biopsy Samples in Patients Attending Dermatological Out Patient Department in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Nepal: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

“…In our study, maximum number of skin tumors, both benign and malignant were seen in the head, face and neck region which is comparable with the studies from Karki et al, Shrivastava et al and Narhire et al 10,[13][14] Head, face and neck are the sun exposed areas and of cosmetic concern to the patients, which might explain the high frequency of tumors.…”

“…10,12 Studies from India also showed higher number of benign tumors. 9,[13][14] In our study, the majority of skin tumors were keratinocytic 35.2%, followed by soft tissue tumors 31.2%, melanocytic tumors 16.8% and appendageal tumors 9.6%. Keratinocytic tumors have been observed to be the commonest skin tumors in Nepal in studies done by Sherpa and KC and Thapa et al also.…”

“…10 Some studies found appendageal tumors to be more frequent among the benign skin tumors. 13,15 Out of 20 malignant tumors in the study, BCC was the commonest in 11 cases (55%) followed by SCC which were in 5 cases (25%). Similar results of higher frequency of BCC have been reported in studies done in Nepal as well as other countries.…”

Areclinicianssuccessful in diagnosingcutaneousadnexaltumors? aretrospective, clinicopathologicalstudy

“…Cutaneous adnexal tumors usually present with asymptomatic papules or nodules. Although they give the clinicians a clue due to their anatomical location, number and distribution, histopathological examination is the gold standard in diagnosis [5]. Yet, due to the presence of large histomorphological patterns in the histopathological examination, it may be confusing to use many different terms together when describing the same tumor [5].…”

“…Although they give the clinicians a clue due to their anatomical location, number and distribution, histopathological examination is the gold standard in diagnosis [5]. Yet, due to the presence of large histomorphological patterns in the histopathological examination, it may be confusing to use many different terms together when describing the same tumor [5]. Different diagnoses may be made histopathologically outside of what is written in clinical prediagnoses due to the presenting clinical and histopathological similarities.…”