The correlation of clinical and histopathological features of eyelid malignancies: a 5-year retrospective study in Vietnam.

PURPOSE: To analyze the correlation between the clinical and histopathological features of eyelid malignancies in Vietnam.

METHODS

An observational retrospective study was conducted on 190 patients who were diagnosed histopathologically after surgery with eyelid malignancies between 2017 and 2021 at Vietnam National Eye Hospital. Demographic, clinical manifestations, pathological features and outcomes were analyzed.

RESULTS

Basal cell carcinoma was the most common histopathologic type, accounting for 57.9% of cases, followed by sebaceous gland carcinoma at 27.4%. The match between clinical diagnosis and pathological diagnosis was 57.4% across all cases. The majority of basal cell carcinoma cases presented on the lower eyelid, while the majority of sebaceous gland carcinoma cases presented on the upper eyelid. Clinical features with the highest clinical correlation were ulceration (76.4%) for basal cell carcinoma and ill-defined edges (84.6%) among malignant cutaneous melanoma.

CONCLUSION

Eyelid malignancies present significant challenges in clinical diagnosis, with only moderate concordance between clinical and histopathological findings. Basal cell carcinoma is the most common eyelid malignancy in Vietnam, though its incidence is significantly lower than in Western countries. Clinical findings with the most consistent clinical correlation were high rates of ulceration in basal cell carcinoma and ill-defined edges in malignant melanoma.