Abstract

BACKGROUND:
Skin tumors and tumor like conditions constitute an important part of the work of the dermatopathologist. The incidence, the clinical and pathological characteristics differ in different countries due to genetic and environmental factors.
AIM OF THE STUDY: 
To evaluate the rates of skin tumors and tumor like conditions and to study the histopathological characteristics of 3 important malignant neoplasms (basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma).
PATIENTS AND METHODS:
The study is a cross-sectional retrospective study. It was conducted at the Histopathology  Department, Teaching Laboratories, Baghdad Medical City during the period extending from the beginning of January 2018 till the end of December 2020. It included all skin biopsies sent from different departments.                        It included 243(37.97%) skin tumors and tumor-like conditions from 640 skin biopsies.
RESULTS:
Females were more commonly affected than males with a female to male ratio of (1.19:1). Malignant tumors (67.48%)) were more common than benign tumors (32.51%). The most common malignant tumor was basal cell carcinoma)(16.87%), followed by direct invasion by cancer (15.64%), then squamous cell carcinoma (9.87%). The most common benign tumors were intradermal nevus (3.7%), skin tag (3.7%%)and seborrheic keratosis (3.29%).
CONCLUSION:
Skin tumors and tumor like conditions constitute an important part of the work of the dermatopathologists. Malignant neoplasms were more frequently encountered than benign neoplasms in our laboratory. Basal cell carcinoma, direct local invasion by cancer and squamous cell carcinoma were the most frequently reported.