A Clinical Study of Cutaneous Tumors of the Head and Neck

Chae, Jin Kyung; Kim, Eun Jung

Abstract

BACKGROUND
There have been many changes to the social and medical environment in Korea and many studies showed a steady increase of cutaneous tumors. But none of them included a data occurring from head and neck.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the incidence and distribution of the cutaneous tumors of the head and neck.
METHODS
A total of 1,415 cases of head and neck cutaneous tumors were obtained from pathology specimen at Department of Dermatology between 2010 and 2014.
RESULTS
Among 1,415 cases of head and neck cutaneous tumors, 871 cases (61.5%) were benign tumors, 271 cases (19.2%) were malignant tumors, and 273 cases (19.2%) were premalignant lesions. The most common benign head and neck cutaneous tumors was epidermal cyst with 188 cases (21.6%), followed by 173 cases (19.9%) of seborrheic keratosis, 71 cases (8.2%) of intradermal nevi. Among the 271 cases of malignant head and neck cutaneous tumors, there were 164 cases (60.5%) of basal cell carcinoma, 89 cases (32.8%) of squamous cell carcinoma, 5 cases (1.8%) of malignant melanoma. The predilection sites of malignant head and neck tumors were face (87.5%), ear (4.8%) and neck (4.0%). Of the premalignant lesions, there were 210 cases (76.9%) of actinic keratosis, 36 cases (13.2%) of Bowen's disease and 27 cases (9.9%) of actinic cheilitis.
CONCLUSION
In our study, the proportion of malignant tumors and premalignant lesion in head and neck tumors was higher than previous reports. Also, the percentage of woman in malignant tumors and premalignant lesions was higher than man, unlike previous studies. However, these results had limitation associated with retrospective study in a single institution, and further prospective study with multi-center is required for confirmation.