Non-Infectious Granulomatous Dermatoses: A Pathologist's Perspective

Indian Dermatol Online J. 2021 Jun 20;12(4):515-528. doi: 10.4103/idoj.IDOJ_662_20. eCollection 2021 Jul-Aug.

Abstract

Granulomatous dermatitis (GD) is one of the commonest tissue reaction patterns encountered in dermatopathology practice. Granulomatous inflammation in the skin can be seen in a wide range of conditions, thus, granulomatous dermatitis always poses significant challenge even to the astute dermatologists and dermatopathologists. Broadly, granulomatous dermatitis is divided into two groups-infectious and non-infectious, the prevalence of both highly variable and show overlapping pathology. However, there are subtle histological clues, which when combined with clinical features, help to narrow down the differential diagnosis. Thus, a good Clinicopathological correlation (CPC) along with histochemical stains, culture and ancillary techniques including molecular studies are required for arriving at a definite diagnosis. In this review, we shall discuss the histological clues to diagnose non-infectious granulomatous dermatitis (NIGD) and their differential diagnoses.

Keywords: Granulomatous dermatitis; histochemistry; interstitial granuloma; necrobiotic granuloma; sarcoidosis.

Publication types

  • Review