Neonatal Dermatopathology: A 10-Year Institutional Review

Abstract

Background/objective: Neonatal skin conditions are typically diagnosed through noninvasive methods. Few studies describe the spectrum of biopsy- evaluated neonatal skin lesions. We present our institutional experience with the conditions leading to skin biopsies in neonates. The objective is to describe the conditions for which skin biopsies are performed in neonatal patients.

Methods: There were 20 neonatal skin biopsies over a 10-year period from the hospital's delivery unit, NICU, and pediatric hospital. Biopsies were categorized as inflammatory (not caused by an infectious agent), congenital, neoplastic, infectious, and vascular conditions.

Results: The patients' ages ranged from 1 day to 4 weeks, with a male predominance. There were 6 inflammatory, 7 congenital, 5 neoplastic, 1 infectious, and 1 vascular lesions.

Conclusions: The most frequent neonatal skin biopsy lesions were inflammatory or congenital lesions. This review described the types of neonatal dermatopathology specimens that we encountered in practice.

Keywords: Neonatal dermatopathology; neonatal dermatosis; neonatal skin conditions; skin biopsy.