ORIGINAL ARTICLE   Free access

Italian Journal of Dermatology and Venereology 2021 October;156(5):606-9

DOI: 10.23736/S2784-8671.20.06672-9

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Cutaneous tricholemmal carcinoma: a 15-year single center experience

Francesca L. BOGGIO ¹, Elena GUANZIROLI ², Marco BARELLA ¹, Luigia VENEGONI ², Emilio BERTI ^{2, 3}, Stefano FERRERO ^{1, 4}, Antonella COGGI ², Raffaele GIANOTTI ^{2, 3}, Alessandro DEL GOBBO ¹ ✉

¹ Unit of Pathologic Anatomy, Foundation IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy; ² Unit of Dermatology, Foundation IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy; ³ Department of Medical-Surgical Physiopathology and Transplantation, Foundation IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, University of Milan, Milan, Italy; ⁴ Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

BACKGROUND: Clear cell morphology has been described in several cutaneous neoplasms either as a specific feature of some entities either as a morphological variant in the spectrum, and these two entities are frequently considered together in the differential diagnosis.
METHODS: We reviewed our series of cases occurred in our laboratory in order to further quantify the number of cases showing morphological features of tricholemmal differentiation and to investigate other clinical or histological difference. We retrieved 91 cases and, for each of them, all the clinical data regarding age, sex, clinical features, and clinical suspicious were collected, when available.
RESULTS: The revision of the specimens concluded with a final diagnosis of tricholemmal carcinoma in 15 cases (17%), all the other cases were thus considered as squamous cell carcinoma with clear cell features. No statistically significant correlations were observed with the demografic or clinicopatholagical parameters such as age, sex or dimensions, but morphological revision highlighted a potentially greater “vertical” growth frequently not matched by a concomitant radial one in tricholemmal carcinoma than in squamous tumors.
CONCLUSIONS: The debate upon the diagnostic distinction of these tumors is still ongoing with authors proposing the tricholemmal carcinoma as a variant of a squamous cell carcinoma rather than a distinct entity. Further studies are needed to confirm our data and to evaluate the reproducibility of this feature.

KEY WORDS: Perivascular Epithelioid Cell Neoplasms; Carcinoma, squamous cell; Neoplasms