Histomorphologic Profile of Skin Tumors

INTRODUCTION: Skin tumors are not uncommon in the Nepalese community. Accurate diagnosis and categorization of these into different types is important because of its effect on prognosis and management. We conducted this study to find out the frequency of different histological types of skin tumors, correlate with their clinicopathologic profile and to determine the stage of malignant tumors. METHODS: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study of skin tumors during the period February 2015 to January 2017. All the patients who were subjected to skin biopsy for skin tumors were included in this study. The biopsies taken were fixed in 10% formalin and then processed. Four microns thick sections were taken and stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin stain (H&E). RESULTS: Total of 108 cases of skin tumors were included of which 68 (62.97%) cases were histologically diagnosed as benign and 40 (37.03%) cases were diagnosed as malignant tumors. Keratinocytic tumors were predominant among both benign and malignant skin tumors. CONCLUSIONS: Histopathological examination is the gold standard for accurate diagnosis and prognostic assessment of the patient. Staging of the malignant tumors in excision biopsy specimen needs to be emphasized since it is a predictor of prognosis.