Histopathological Analysis of 2,856 Cases of Clinically Diagnosed as Atheroma; The Importance of Histopathological Examination

Abstract

An atheroma is a follicular or epidermal cyst. The histopathological diagnoses of 2,856 cases clinically diagnosed as atheroma were analyzed. Of the total, 2,455 cases (86.0%) were correctly diagnosed as atheroma, but the other 401 cases were incorrectly diagnosed. In the latter group, 17 cases were malignant neoplasms including basal cell carcioma, squamous cell carcinoma, metastatic carcinoma, Merkel cell carcinoma, solar keratosis, apocrine carcinoma, dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, syringomatous carcinoma .To diagnose atheroma correctly and not miss the malignant neoplasms or other unexpected diseases, histopathological examinations should be performed routinely.