Histopathological Analysis of Psoriasis in a Study of 24 Cases

Abstract

Introduction: As for any other organ system, diagnosis of skin disease involves history and examination. An instant diagnosis can be arrived upon by virtue of visibility of the skin taking into account various visual clues such as scaling, colouring, arrangement and the site of distribution of lesions. Although this appears effortless, the pattern of recognition is complicated while factoring in the individual components and analysing them separately. Aim: To study the varying histopathological findings in cases of psoriasis. Materials and Methods: Prospective study was conducted for two years. All patients who have been clinically diagnosed/ suspected and untreated cases of psoriasis attending the Department of Dermatology were taken for the study. Wedge biopsy was taken under local anaesthesia. Results: In the present study, the age group of patients ranged between 8-83 years with 17 of them being males and 07 of them being females. The ratio being 2.4:1 and the mean age was 43 years. The most common histopathological finding was elongated rete ridges, suprapapillary thinning and acanthosis within the epidermis. Munroe microabscess, hyperkeratosis and parakeratosis were the other findings noted within the epidermis. Within the dermis the most common finding was aggregates of lymphocytes which varied from mild to marked along with perivascular infiltration of lymphocytes. Conclusion: Histopathological diagnosis forms the diagnostic tool for the dermatologists to arrive at a conclusion for their differential diagnosis since many skin disorders overlap with clinical presentations of psoriasis. This helps in excluding the differential diagnosis given by the clinician and to arrive at a definite histopathological diagnosis for the betterment of the patient.

Keywords

• histopathological study
• macules
• papules
• plaques
• scales