A Clinicohistopathological Study on the Lesion Resembling Seborrheic Keratoses of the Face / 대한피부과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The most of typical seborrheic keratoses (SKs) can be clinically differentiated with ease from other dermatoses. However, its differential diagnosis can sometimes be difficult and recently reported cases clinically suggest that SKs with the skin biopsy result being some other diseases can bring on the need for further evaluations. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to examine the diagnostic yield in submitting clinically diagnosed SKs which showed single discoid lesions of the face for routine microscopic examinations. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of cases for histological examinations with a clinical diagnosis of SKs or with a differential diagnosis that includes SKs which shows single discoid lesion of the face. A total of 94 pathology reports containing a diagnosis of SKs in the clinical information field were identified. The accuracy of the clinical diagnosis and clinic histopathological correlations were studied. RESULTS: In this study, 45.7% of patients was clinically assumed to have SKs but turned out to be some other diseases according to the histopathology test results - a total of 19 cases (44.2%) with some considered to be precancerous (actinic keratosis 25.6%, benign lichenoid keratosis 16.3% or cancerous (basal cell carcinoma 9.3%, squamous cell carcinoma 4.7%). CONCLUSION: Lesions suggested to be SKs need more examinations and lesions of atypical clinical appearances which cannot completely exclude the possibility of precancerous or malignant lesions are strongly recommended for skin biopsies.