Understanding skin adnexal tumors: Insights from a tertiary medical institution

Abstract

Background: Skin adnexal tumors are a heterogenous group of tumors under benign and malignant categories with differentiation into hair follicles, sebaceous glands, eccrine & apocrine glands. Due to varied non-specific clinical symptoms, histopathological diagnosis is vital in clinching the accurate diagnosis. Aim: This study aimed at analyzing the clinicopathologic and histomorphological features of various skin adnexal tumors. Materials and Methods: It was a retrospective descriptive study conducted over a period of 3 years from January 2022 to January 2024 in the Department of Pathology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh. H& E slides and paraffin blocks were retrieved from archives, slides were reviewed and clinical details were revived from the registry. Results: Most of the skin adnexal tumors were benign (76.7%) whereas malignant tumors constituted 13.3%. The common age group affected was 51-60 years with male to female ratio of 2:1. The most frequent location was the head and neck region in 83.4% of cases. 59/60 cases presented with complaints of swelling. Sweat gland (eccrine/ apocrine) differentiation was observed in 45% (27/60) followed by hair follicle tumors (28.3%), and sebaceous gland tumors (21.7%). The most common tumors among benign and malignant categories were eccrine hidrocystoma (16.7%) and sebaceous carcinoma (18.3%) respectively. Conclusion: Skin adnexal tumors are rare skin tumors. Benign tumors are more common than malignant ones. Histopathological examination is crucial in the diagnosis of skin adnexal tumors.