A study of tumours, tumour like lesions and cysts of epidermis and its appendages

Introduction: Skin tumors arise due to proliferation of group of cells having differentiation towards single or multiple components of skin. Based on their primary site of involvement, they can be divided into neoplasms with epithelial differentiation, melanocytic neoplasms, soft tissue neoplasms, neural tumors and tumors of subcutaneous tissue. Aims: 1. To evaluate the demographic and clinico-pathological patterns of tumors, tumor like lesions & cysts of epidermis and its appendages; 2. To compare the profile of patients with appendageal tumors against the total epidermal tumors. Materials and Methods: Prospective study, from July 2012 to November 2014, done at tertiary care center. Results: During the period of three years, there were 306 cases which presented as skin tumors and out of these, 57 happened to be cysts and the remaining 249 were tumors of skin. Out of 249 cases, 205 were diagnosed as benign, 23 were of premalignant and 21 as malignant tumors of skin constituting 82.32%, 9.24% and 8.43% respectively. There was male predominance with male to female ratio of 1.28:1. In this study benign keratinocytic tumors formed majority (49.27%) followed by melanocytic (31.32%) and appendageal tumors (10.44%). Among keratinocytic tumors maximum cases were of seborrheic keratosis (32.19%), among melanocytic tumors maximum cases were of acquired melanocytic nevus (21.40%) while nevus sebaceous (4.87%) formed majority among appendageal tumors. In present study malignant keratinocytic tumors formed majority (95.23%) followed by melanocytic (4.76%). Among keratinocytic tumors maximum cases were of BCC (57.14%). Conclusion: The diagnosis of skin tumors presents unique difficulties due to wide variety of tumors and the complicated nomenclature. The study of the adnexal tumours is interesting, fascinating and challenging because of wide range of differentiation.