A study of the histopathological spectrum of soft tissue tumours in a tertiary care centre

Introduction: Soft tissue encompasses the supportive connective tissue of various organs and the other nonepithelial, extra skeletal structures excluding the viscera, lymphoreticular system and meninges. The aim & objectives were to study the histopathological spectrum of various soft tissue tumours (STTs), to know the proportion of benign, intermediate and malignant soft tissue tumours and to know the age, gender and site distribution of these tumours. Materials and Methods: It was a pro spective study of 100 cases carried out at the Department of Pathology, Dr. D. Y. Patil Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre, Pune, Maharashtra. All specimens were received in 10% buffered formalin and processed through standard paraffin embedding technique. Sections of 3-5 micrometre thickness were cut and stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin stain. All STTs were classified as per the 2013 WHO classification. Results: Out of the 100 cases of STTs, 90% were benign, 2% were intermediate and 8% were malignant. Sarcomas showed a predominance above the sixth decade. STTs showed a male preponderance with a male to female ratio of 1.3, while a female predominance was seen in the malignant STTs. Majority of the STTs were located on the extremities (35%), followed by the head and neck region (32%). Adipocytic tumours (55%) were the most common STTs, followed by nerve sheath tumours (18%) and vascular tumours (14%). Conclusion: In spite of various ancillary techniques like special stains, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization (ISH) and molecular genetics, histopathological examination remains the gold standard for proper diagnosis of soft tissue tumours. Keywords: Soft tissue, Histopathology, Benign, Malignant, Lipoma, Sarcoma.