Benign Skin Neoplasms among the Histopathological Specimens of Skin Neoplasm in a Teaching Hospital: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Skin tumors are relatively uncommon malignancies worldwide, but its incidence has been progressively increased over the last few decades. Skin tumor belongs to a diverse group of neoplasms arising from the epidermis, adnexal structures and dermis rendering the classification difficult. The study aims to find out the prevalence of benign skin neoplasm among the histopathological specimens of skin neoplasm of a teaching hospital.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study among the hospital records of histopathological samples of skin neoplasm in the Department of Pathology of a tertiary care center from January 2017 to December 2020. Ethical approval was taken from the Institutional Review Committee (Ref: MEMG/IRC/427/GA). Convenient sampling was done. Data were entered in Microsoft Excel and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21 software. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated with frequency and descriptive statistics.

Results: Out of total skin neoplasm samples, 121 (57.34%) (50.67-64.01 at 95% Confidence Interval) benign skin neoplasms were present. Among them, the majority were keratinocytic tumor 81 (66.9%) followed by skin appendageal 23 (19.0%) and melanocytic tumors 17 (14.0%). Acrochordan 18 (14.9%) and pilomatricoma 12 (9.9%) were the predominant keratinocytic and appendageal neoplasms respectively. Most of the cases occurred in head and neck region 64 (52.9%).

Conclusions: The study concluded that the prevalence of benign skin neoplasm was slightly lower compared to the other studies. Most of the benign skin neoplasms were keratinocytic tumors followed by appendageal and melanocytic tumors. Acrochordan was the commonest benign keratinocytic tumor.