Case Series of Common Skin Lesions Encountered in Elderly Cadavers: A Dermatopathology Analysis

INTRODUCTION: Gaining hands-on experience in both dermatology and pathology is a common barrier that prevents first and second year medical students from refining skills that are not later taught until residency. This prompted a study to develop gross differential diagnostic skills and how to analyze histopathology slides to diagnose common skin lesions to refine skills in both clinical and histology presentation for medical students.

METHODS: A case series was designed to examine multiple shave biopsies on all abnormal skin lesions observed from nine cadavers used for the first-year medical students gross anatomy lab during the year 2022-2023. Biopsies were stained using hematoxylin and eosin stains. Histopathology slides, though initially viewed by medical students, were later confirmed by a pathologist.

RESULTS: 25 samples were taken from the 9 cadavers. The most commonly encountered lesion was seborrheic keratosis (SK), making up 14 of the 25 sample lesions (52%). Five of the sample lesions (20%) were actinic keratosis (AK), with one of the five presenting with sebaceous gland hyperplasia. Three sample lesions (12%) were an intradermal nevus, with one of three being pigmented. Two sample lesions (8%) from the same cadaver were a milium and one lesion (4%) from another cadaver was an epidermal inclusion cyst.

DISCUSSION: Common dermatological lesions were identified among the 9 cadavers used for analysis. This provided opportunities to develop and refine skills in identifying common lesions grossly and through histology analysis. A further increase in sample size is needed to gain exposure to a larger variety of lesions and to identify common dermatological lesions grossly based on differing race, age, and gender.