A Statistical Study on Histopathologic Diagnoses of Skin Diseases / 대한피부과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Skin biopsy is an effective diagnostic tool commonly used in dermatology practice. Clinicopathologic correlation is important for diagnostic accuracy. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the distribution of skin biopsy specimens, and compare the pathologic diagnosis with the final dermatologic diagnosis. METHODS: This study included 4,018 skin biopsy specimens taken during a period of 10 years from June 1995 to May 2005 at the Department of Dermatology, Korea University Anam Hospital. RESULTS & CONCLUSION: Of all biopsy specimens, 61.49% were diagnosed as tumors, and 38.51% were diagnosed as non-tumors. For the tumors, 87.15% were benign, 4.23% were premalignant and 8.62% were malignant. The rate of concordance between pathologic diagnosis and final dermatologic diagnosis was 76.69%, and the rate of discordance between them was 4.18%. The rate of description without a pathologic diagnosis in pathologic reports was 18.94%. The rate of concordance was higher in tumors (89.65%) than in non-tumors (56.00%), and the rate of description in pathologic reports was higher in non-tumors (39.08%) than in tumors (6.32%). There was no significant difference in the rates of discordance between tumors and non-tumors. The rate of concordance was higher in malignant tumors (95.72%) than in benign tumors (89.77%) or premalignant tumors (74.76%). The rate of description in pathologic reports was higher in premalignant tumors (18.45%) than in benign tumors (6.27%) or malignant tumors (0.95%). There was no significant difference in the rates of discordance between the three groups.