Evaluation of dermatology consultations requested for inpatients in a tertiary institution from Türkiye

Abstract

Objective: To investigate and present the features of the consultations requested for inpatients in a tertiary institution retrospectively. Method: Archive of our tertiary institution located in the South Marmara Region of Turkiye was reviewed and every single consultation responded by Dermatology Department was investigated. Results: The mean age of the 421 consulted patients (191 females, 230 males) was 62 ± 17 (1-95) years. The most frequently consultation requesting departments were Cardiology (18.8%), Neurology (11.4%) and Physical medicine and Rehabilitation (8.3%). The most common lesions resulting in consultation were rashes (22.3%), erythematous lesions (14.5%) and wounds (14%). The most common dermatologic diagnoses were contact dermatitis (10.7%), tinea pedis (8%) and cellulitis (5.2%). Among 421 patients, 62 (14.7%) patients required a histopathologic diagnosis and underwent biopsy. Most frequent histopathologic diagnoses were non-specific findings 14 (22.6%), basal cell carcinoma (12.9%), maculopapular drug reaction (12.9%) and contact dermatitis (9.7%). Conclusion: The perspective of interdisciplinary approach leads physicians request dermatology consultations frequently for inpatients particularly having systemic diseases and reviewing and reporting the features of consulted patients periodically might provide a satisfactory contribution to the current literature.