28522 The impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on phototherapy utilization

Abstract

Background: The umbilicus is a special and prominent scar on the abdomen, which obliterates the portal through which the omphalomesenteric duct connected the primitive gut to the yolk sac. Umbilical skin lesions are rare but diverse, rarely diagnosed by biopsy.Objectives: The study aimed to analyze the clinical and histopathologic features of umbilical skin lesions. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients who visited our institution for umbilical skin lesions from January 2008 to December 2019. Age, sex, clinical features, etiologies, and histopathological features were obtained from patients' medical records and photographs.Results: There were 41 cases of histologically confirmed umbilical diseases. Among them, 31 patients were female (75.6%). The lesions included hypertrophic scars (11/41), epidermal cysts (7/41), verruca (6/41), seborrheic keratosis (5/41), nevus (4/41), steatocystoma (2/41), and one each case of endometriosis, hidrocystoma, neurofibroma, soft fibroma, foreign body granuloma, tick bite and heterotopic gastric mucosa. Conclusion: The most common umbilical skin lesions were hypertrophic scars followed by increased number of laparoscopic surgeries. Compared with other previously reported studies, fewer umbilical biopsies have been done in relation with diagnosis of metastatic cancer in our study, which may be due to decreased incidence of advanced gastric cancer and the early detection of cancer through endoscopy and CT scan these days.