Cytomorphological evaluation of Cutaneous and Subcutaneous masses: A seven year study from a tertiary care centre in Delhi

Abstract

Introduction: Skin, subcutaneous and soft tissue masses form a varied group of non-distinctive lesions showing a wide variety of differentiation and morphological features. Clinically these lesions are often misdiagnosed due to their wide array of types and variants. FNAC plays an important role in early timely diagnosis of these masses especially in distinguishing benign from malignant lesions. Our aim is to study the spectrum and cytomorphological features of skin, adnexal and soft tissue lesions by FNAC in patients presenting with lump, nodule or any induration. Material and Methods: Out of a total of 15,533 FNAC cases during the study period, 1162(7.5%) cases from skin, adnexa and soft tissue lesions were included in the study. FNAC smears were stained with Papanicolaou (PAP)/May Grunwald Giemsa (MGG) stain and classified on cytology into inflammatory, benign and malignant neoplastic conditions. The spectrum and cytomorphological features of skin, adnexal and soft tissue lesions was studied. Results: Out of a total of 1162 cases of cutaneous and subcutaneous lesions, non neoplastic lesions/ inflammatory comprised of 447 cases (38.4%), benign tumors comprised of 686 cases (59%) and malignant tumors comprised of 29 cases (2.5%). Maximum number of cases were seen in the age group of third and fourth decade. The most common lesion in non neoplastic was epidermal inclusion cyst, neoplastic benign was lipoma and malignant was squamous cell carcinoma. Conclusion: FNAC is an excellent diagnostic modality in early diagnosis of skin and soft tissue lesions. It helps in ruling out malignancy thus obviating the need for surgical procedures and facilitating initiation of appropriate therapy. Keywords: Soft tissue tumors, Skin lesions, Fine needle aspiration cytology.