Clinicopathological correlation in the diagnosis of skin diseases: A retrospective study

Abstract

Introduction: Skin biopsy is an indispensable tool in dermatological diagnosis.Various factors that influence the outcome of a biopsy include information recorded on the histopathology request form by the treating dermatologist to the reporting pathologist. Conversely, a good biopsy report is vital for the clinician to arrive at a diagnosis. Materials And Methods: The present study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in the form of a retrospective investigation of histopathology requisition forms and reports of skin and mucosal biopsies done over a period of one year.If the pathological diagnosis was definite and matched one of the clinical diagnoses, it was grouped under the category definite and consistent. If the pathologist gave a descriptive diagnosis that matched one of the clinical diagnoses, it was grouped under the category descriptive and consistent. If the pathologist gave a definite diagnosis that did not match any of the clinical diagnoses, it was grouped under definite and inconsistent and if the pathological diagnosis was descriptive and did not match any clinical diagnoses, it was grouped under descriptive and inconsistent. Data analysis was done using R Statistical Software v3.6.0 (R Statistical Corp, Vienna, Austria). Level of significance was set at p<0.05. Results: A total of 403 skin biopsy requisition forms and their reports were analysed. 46.5% were given a definite pathological diagnosis consistent with the clinical diagnosis, 21% were given a descriptive pathological diagnosis consistent with the clinical diagnosis, 6% had a definite pathological diagnosis inconsistent with clinical diagnosis and 26.5% had a descriptive pathological diagnosis inconsistent with the clinical diagnosis. Conclusion: The present study has shown that clinicopathological consistency in diagnosing skin diseases is 67.5%. Providing comprehensive clinical description and repeat biopsy increases the diagnostic accuracy rate.

Keywords

• clinicopathological correlation
• histopathology
• skin biopsy