Chondroid syringoma: a diagnosis more frequent than expected.
BACKGROUND
Chondroid syringoma or mixed tumor of the skin is a rare subcutaneous tumor that may be confused with various skin lesions.


OBJECTIVE
To elucidate the incidence of condroid syringomas among skin lesions that were excised under local anesthesia.


METHODS
The histopathologic diagnosis of 16,200 skin lesions that had been operated between 1986 and 2002 were retrospectively evaluated. The cases with condroid syringoma were histopathologically re-examined, and confirmed cases were further analyzed for preoperative diagnosis, age, gender, and lesion location.


RESULTS
Sixteen patients were found to have histopathologic diagnosis of chondroid syringoma constituting 0.098% of the excised skin lesions in this series. All of these 16 cases were misdiagnosed preoperatively. The typical presentation was a solitary skin lesion located in the head and neck region in a middle-aged male patient.


CONCLUSIONS
In the evaluation of a middle-aged male patient with a small subcutaneous nodule in the head and neck region, chondroid syringoma should be also taken into consideration for differential diagnosis. For such a lesion, excisional biopsy without destroying aesthetic and functional structures is the preferred diagnostic approach.
Yavuzer
Reha
R
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Gazi University, Medical Faculty, Ankara, Turkey. ryavuzer@hotmail.com
Başterzi
Yavuz
Y
Sari
Alper
A
Bir
Ferda
F
Sezer
Cem
C
D008949:Adenoma, Pleomorphic / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013544:Sweat Gland Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*