Purpose:
To review the pathologic characteristics, including grade, of ocular surface squamous neoplasms (OSSN) biopsied at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute from 2001 - 2010.
Methods:
A total of 711 pathology reports containing a diagnosis of "conjunctival intraepithelial neoplasia" and/or "squamous cell carcinoma" from January 1, 2001, to September 20, 2010, from 623 patients, were retrospectively analyzed. Focality of OSSN lesions and pathologic grade were documented.
Results:
OSSN lesions were unifocal in 595 specimens (83.7%) and multifocal in 116 specimens (16.3%). Two-hundred and forty lesions (33.8%) were diagnosed as conjunctival intraepithelial neoplasia, with 60 of these lesions (8.4%) graded as mild, 111 lesions (15.6%) graded as moderate, and 69 lesions (9.7%) graded as severe. Carcinoma-in-situ was present in 360 lesions (50.6%), and squamous cell carcinoma was present in 89 lesions (12.5%). Pathologic grade could not be determined in 22 lesions (3.1%) due to inadequate material, fragmented tissue, or tangential sectioning.
Conclusions:
In our experience, a majority of OSSN cases were unifocal, with approximately 12% of cases graded as invasive squamous cell carcinoma. Careful orientation and processing of biopsied tissue are important for making a pathologic diagnosis.
Keywords: pathology: human • tumors • conjunctiva