Subcutaneous Tumors: Incidence of Malignancy

The utility of submitting epidermoid cysts for histologic examination

“…Unexpected malignancies are rare in clinically benign appearing subcutaneous lesions; the incidence in our series of 4.0% was somewhat higher than expected. 3 When carcinoma was mentioned in the clinician's preoperative differential diagnosis, the incidence of histologically proven malignancy increased greatly (38%). Of note is that 16 of the 19 carcinomas were submitted by dermatologists, while the melanoma was submitted by a family practitioner.…”