Dermatomycosis in Cutaneous Tumors is a Predictor for Non-malignancy: A Cross-sectional Study

The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of spores and/or hyphae in benign cutaneous tumors (CT) and compare their presence in malignant cutaneous tumors. In this cross-sectional study we evaluated 328 CTs positive for spores and/or hyphae. The results show that the greatest number of involved CTs which contained spores and/or hyphae were found in compound nevi 181 (55.18%) and seborrheic warts 61 (18.60%). No spores and/or hyphae were observed in the melanoma samples, and a very low prevalence was found in squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) (2; 0.61%) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC) (1; 0.30%). The presence of spores and/or hyphae could be a good indicator for non-malignancy, allowing differential diagnosis between benign CTs and SCCs or BCCs as well as between melanoma and nevi.