Abstract
Purpose:
Lesions of the caruncle are relatively uncommon. Herein we report the caruncular lesions seen at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute by characterizing the type of lesion, relative frequency and clinical findings from a single institution.
Methods:
The case files of the Florida Lions Ocular Pathology Laboratory at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute were reviewed from 1997 to October 2013 searching for lesions that were designated to have been biopsied from the caruncle. The reports were reviewed and the histopathologic findings were correlated to the clinical findings.
Results:
A total of 198 lesions of the caruncle were found in the files from January 1997 to October 2013. Thirty different diagnostic entities were identified. The most common were nevi (n=61, 31%), followed by non-specific inflammation (n=26,13%), papilloma (n=16, 8%), sebaceous hyperplasia (n=13, 6.6%), oncocytoma (n=10, 5%) and sebaceous carcinoma (n=8, 4%).
Conclusions:
This case series demonstrates that benign nevi are the most common lesions identified in the caruncle. While more commonly benign, malignant lesions of the caruncle account for up to 14% of caruncular lesions including sebaceous carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, lymphoma, melanoma and intraepithelial carcinoma. A wide variety of lesions may present in the caruncle and the clinician should be aware of the differential diagnosis in this anatomic location.
Keywords: 744 tumors •
474 conjunctiva •
638 pathology: human