Clinicopathological study of 1016 consecutive adnexal skin tumors

Adnexal tumors (ATs) are primary skin tumors with benign or rarely, malignant behavior. They have been classified based on differentiation towards hair follicle, sebaceous, apocrine or eccrine gland. Few large-scale studies have focused on ATs. To determine the prevalence of ATs and to assess clinical and histopathological trend of ATs. A retrospective descriptive study of all ATs diagnosed in Razi hospital between 2006 and 2010 was performed. A total of 30,000 pathology records were reviewed, and 1016 ATs were included. The prevalence of ATs was 3.3%. 518 patients (51%) were female, with a mean age of 34.5 years. 953 tumors (93.8%) were benign. ATs were most commonly located in the head and neck area (822, 83.5%). The most common histopathological origin of ATs was sebaceous gland (536, 52.7%). Sebaceous nevus of Jadassohn was the most prevalent single tumor type (40.6% of all ATs). In 63.6% (646) of tumors, ATs were clinically suspected by the clinician prior to biopsy. The most common malignant AT was sebaceous carcinoma (23, 36.5% of all malignant ATs). ATs are infrequent lesions, most commonly occurring in 3rd and 4th decade of life. Diagnosis of ATs is made by histopathological studies as they often express indistinctive clinical features. Malignant ATs are rare, occur at an older age, and are often hard to recognize clinically.