Histopathology of Dermal Adnexal Tumours - A Four Years Study

Background Dermal adnexal tumours (DAT) are a large and diverse group of benign and malignant tumours which exhibit morphological differentiation towards one of the different types of adnexal tumours present in normal skin pilosebaeceous unit, eccrine and apocrine. Methods 50 cases of skin adnexal tumours diagnosed in histopathological study over a period of 4 years (May 2012 to September 2016) in the Department of Pathology, PDU Medical college, Rajkot. Histopathological study is done in Formalin fixed, Paraffin embedded tissue sections stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin. Results Skin adnexal tumours found most common in the age group of 21 to 60 years (74 %, 37/50). Male to female ratio was 11.2.98 % cases found benign with only a single case (2 %) malignant. The sweat gland tumors formed the largest group involving 52 % of cases followed by hair follicle tumors (40 %), sebaceous gland tumours (6 %) and mixed (2 %). Nodular hidradenoma (22 %) and trichilemmal cyst (22 %) found the most common benign tumours. Chondroid syringoma with malignant changes is the only malignant adnexal tumour reported in our study. Conclusion Dermal adnexal tumours are relatively rare. Benign adnexal tumors are far more common than their malignant counterparts. Female preponderance is observed. Histopathological examination is mandatory in their diagnosis as they have very wide spectrum and frequency of differentiation along different lines in the same lesion.