A Statistical Study on Histopathologic Diagnoses of Skin Diseases

Ko, Na Young; Kim, Soo Nam

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.