Review of 189 Consecutive Female Genital Skin and Mucosal Biopsies Submitted to an Academic Dermatopathology Practice

Abstract

Abstract Objectives To describe consecutive vulvar biopsy cases and to create an educational template for pathology trainees and practicing pathologists. Methods We reviewed 189 consecutive biopsies from the female genital area skin and mucosa. We classified them based on etiologies and examined limited clinical information. Results We classified diagnoses as squamous intraepithelial neoplasia (21.5%), melanocytic neoplasia (17.9%), lichenoid dermatoses (15.9%), nonlichenoid dermatoses (11.3%), infectious (6.2%), reparative (4.6%), or miscellaneous (22.6%). The miscellaneous diagnoses included common entities (polyps and cysts) and rarer entities (calcinosis cutis, adnexal neoplasms, or basal cell carcinoma) and nonspecific descriptive diagnoses. Clinicians most often included the actual diagnosis in their differential for melanocytic lesions (83%) and least often for inflammatory lesions (32%). However, some cases included a clinical description without a differential diagnosis (14%) or no helpful clinical information (4%). The distribution of whether correct diagnoses were included in the clinical differential was similar between submitting physicians and midlevel providers. Conclusions Understanding squamous and melanocytic pathology and the various lichenoid and other inflammatory diagnoses is critical for signing out female genital tract skin pathology. The cases examined in this report can serve as an educational template for trainees and practicing pathologists.