A clinico-pathologic analysis of cutaneous appendageal tumours

Abstract

Background: Cutaneous appendageal tumours can arise from either the eccrine, apocrine, hair follicles or the sebaceous glands. Majority of the tumours are benign. Final diagnosis requires a good clinical as well as histpathological correlation. The aim of the present study was to assess the clinicopathological characteristic of these tumours. Materials & Methods: The present study was a retro-prospective study carried out in the department of Pathology, Rohilkhand Medical College & Hospital, Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh), a tertiary care hospital. The cases were noted, classified and studied according to their age, sex and site. A total of 29 cases were included in the present study over a period of three years. These cases were confirmed to have cutaneous adnexal neoplasm on histopathology. All the specimens were formalin fixed, processed and stained with routine Haematoxylin & Eosin method and special stains were applied wherever necessary. The tumours were classified as apocrine, eccrine, follicular and sebaceous type based on the histopathological report. Results: It was observed that the incidence of skin adnexal tumours was very low in relation to the total number of surgical specimens received in the department of Pathology (0.093%). The mean age of presentation of adnexal tumours in this study was 37.66 years with patients ranging from 10 to 80 years. Females 18 (62.1%) outnumbered the males 11 (37.9%) in the present study. Among 29 cases, 23 cases were benign and 6 cases were malignant. 6 (20.7%) of these tumours were derived from eccrine & apocrine glands, 6 (20.7%) cases showed sebaceous differentiation and 17 (58.6%) cases were tumours of follicular differentiation. The commonest lesion observed was Pilomatricoma in 10 cases (34.4%). Conclusion: Appendageal skin tumours have distinct histological characteristics which differentiates them from other cutaneous tumours. The clinical diagnosis may be difficult because they have overlapping presentations and thus