Cutaneous cysts: a clinicopathologic analysis of 2,438 cases

Benign cutaneous lesions, so-called cysts, are frequently seen in clinics and might evoke cosmetic and psychosocial concerns.

This study aimed to demonstrate the clinicopathologic findings of these lesions and also the importance of histological evaluation for prevention of misdiagnosing a benign-appearing malignant lesion.

A descriptive study was conducted of 2,438 cases who had a diagnosis of cyst confirmed with pathology. The data of patients over the 6-year period between 2011 and 2017, including gender, age, location, prevalence, complications, and microscopic evaluation, were gathered.

From a total of 2,438 records with a clinical diagnosis of mucocutaneous cyst, 2077 had the pathologic diagnosis of cysts. They consisted of 910 women (43.8%) and 1167 men (56.1%) with a mean age of 42. The most common mucocutaneous cysts were epidermal cyst 994 (47.8%) followed by trichilemmal cyst 495 (23.8%). In 479 (19.6%) records, the clinical diagnosis was not congruent with histopathological diagnosis including 45 malignant cases. Basal cell carcinoma in 22 (48.9%) was the most common one.

This study reports on clinical characteristics of cutaneous cysts and the need for a decent diagnostic investigation, like histopathology, for achieving a reliable diagnosis regarding the benign mimicking malignant lesions, especially high risk ones.