Clinicopathological findings in a case series of extrathoracic solitary fibrous tumors of soft tissues

Data were obtained from patients' records, phone calls to the patients' general practitioners, and clinical follow-up examination, including chest X-ray, abdominal ultrasound, and MRI or computed tomography.There were 6 females and 3 males, whose age at time of diagnosis ranged from 32 to 92 years (mean: 62.2 years). The documented tumors' size was 4.5 to 10 cm (mean: 7 cm). All tumors were located in deep soft tissues, 3 of them epifascial, 2 subfascial, 4 intramuscular. Four tumors were found at the extremities, one each at the flank, in the neck, at the shoulder, in the gluteal region, and in the deep groin. Two out of 9 cases were diagnosed as atypical or malignant variant of ESFT. Complete resection was performed in all cases. Follow-up time ranged from 1 to 71 months. One of the above.mentioned patients with atypical ESFT suffered from local relapse and metastatic disease; the remaining 8 patients were free of disease.ESFT usually behave as benign soft tissue tumors, although malignant variants with more aggressive local behaviour (local relapse) and metastasis may occur. The risk of local recurrence and metastasis correlates to tumor size and histological status of surgical resection margins and may reach up to 10% even in so-called "benign" tumors. Tumor specimens should be evaluated by experienced soft tissue pathologists. The treatment of choice is complete resection followed by extended follow-up surveillance.Solitary fibrous tumors (SFT) – previously known as benign fibrous mesotheliomas – were considered being of serosal origin and being exclusively located in the thoracic cavity as pleural fibrous tumors. More recently, however, SFT have been reported in many extrapleural locations such as the head and neck region; in particular, the meninges, the orbita, the nasal and oral cavity, the salivary glands, and the visceral organs, the retroperitoneum, and the pelvic space. Extrapleural solitary fibrous tumors (ESFT), especially those at the extremities, st