Clinico-Pathological Study of Cutaneous Granulomatous Lesions- a 5 yr Experience in a Tertiary Care Hospital in India

BACKGROUND: Granulomatous dermatoses are common skin pathology, often need histopathological confirmation for diagnosis. Histologically six sub-types of granulomas found in granulomatous skin diseases- tuberculoid, sarcoidal, necrobiotic, suppurative, foreign body & histoid type. The aims of the present study were clinico-pathological evaluation of granulomatous skin lesions and their etiological classification based on histopathological examination. METHODS: It was a five years (Jan 2009- Dec 2013) retrospective study involving all the skin biopsies. Detailed clinical and histopathological features were analyzed and granulomatous skin lesions were categorized according to type of granuloma & etiology. Special stains were used in few cases for diagnostic purpose. RESULTS: Among 1280 skin biopsies, 186 cases (14.53%) were granulomatous skin lesions with a ratio 1:24. In histopathological sub-typing, tuberculoid granuloma was most common type (126 cases, 67.74%). Most common etiology of granuloma in the study was leprosy (107 cases, 57.52%). Other etiologies were cutaneous tuberculosis, foreign body granulomas, fungal lesions, cutaneous leishmaniasis, sarcoidosis and granuloma annulare. CONCLUSION: Histopathology is established as gold standard investigation for diagnosis, categorization and clinico-pathological correlation of granulomatous skin lesions.