Epidermal Appendageal Tumours-Histopathological Study At A Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Skin appendageal tumours are a heterogeneous group of tumours with considerable clinical and histopathological overlap. The overall incidence of Skin adnexal tumours (SATs) is low in Indian population. In some cases, the diagnosis of adnexal neoplasms poses unique difficulties due to complex nomenclature, and expression of one or more lines of appendageal differentiation in the same lesion. The study was aimed to evaluate the histopathological spectrum of skin appendageal tumours and to correlate SATs with various demographic and clinical data. Material and Methods: This observational and descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on a total 55 skin biopsies diagnosed as SATs over a period of 2 years. Results: Peak age incidence of SATs was observed in the 5th decade with marginal female preponderance (M: F = 1:1.11). The most commonly affected site was head and neck region (69%); followed by extremities (27%) and trunk (4%). Out of total 55 cases of SATs, 50 cases (90.91%) were benign tumours and 05 cases (9.09%) were malignant tumours. The sweat gland tumours constituted the largest group (43.64%); followed by hair follicle tumours (36.36%) and sebaceous gland tumours (20%). Amongst all SATs, nodular hidradenoma was the commonest benign tumour (16.36%) and sebaceous cell carcinoma (7.27%) was the most common malignant tumour. Conclusion: The study confirmed that skin appendageal tumours are rare tumours. Histopathology proves to be the gold standard tool to confirm the diagnosis.