Radiological Evaluation of Skin Nodules in Cancer Patients

Background: Skin and subcutaneous nodules are frequent-ly met findings whether presenting as primary skin malignan-cies, benign lesions, or secondary metastatic deposits. The ra-diological evaluation of these nodules plays a pivotal role in diagnosis, staging, treatment planning, and monitoring thera-peutic responses. Early differentiation of benign versus malig-nant lesions can prevent unnecessary invasive procedures and guide appropriate treatment strategies. Moreover, recognizing metastatic skin nodules may signify systemic disease progres-sion, necessitating comprehensive oncologic evaluation and intervention. Aim of Study: Evaluate the radiological features of skin and subcutaneous nodules, including primary skin malignan-cies, skin metastases and benign skin lesions in patients with known primary malignancy together with measuring CT and MRI specificity and sensitivity in differentiating benign and malignant skin lesions. Patients and Methods: This study was a retrospective study conducted in National Cancer Institute. A total of 151 patients with skin lesions were evaluated. Patients were either new cas-es coming with newly discovered skin lesion or patients with known primary malignancy coming with either a newly recog-nized skin lesion or for routine metastatic work up which un-veiled a clinically unrecognized skin lesion. Patients underwent CT or MRI based on clinical scenario. Radiological findings were correlated with either pathology or 6 month follow-up in cases not indicated for biopsy. Results: Out of a total of 151 patients, 57 patients (37.7%) had benign skin lesions and the other 94 (62.3%) were malig-nant skin lesions, with 51 cases with primary skin malignancy and 43 cases with distant skin metastases. CT sensitivity was 93.02%, specifically 82.76%, while MRI sensitivity reached 94.44% with 84.21% specificity. Conclusion: With a high sensitivity and specificity for malignancy, this study concludes that CT and MRI are useful radiographic tools for evaluating skin and subcutaneous nod-ules. Integration of imaging, histological, and clinical data is still crucial. Future developments in artificial intelligence and imaging technology could substantially increase the accuracy of diagnoses in this area.