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Skin / Soft Tissue Tumors

Deep benign fibrous histiocytoma

 

Author: Nat Pernick, M.D., PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.

Reviewer: David Lucas, M.D., University of Michigan Health Systems (January 2009)

Revised: 26 June 2009, last major update June 2009

 

Definition

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● Benign fibrous histiocytoma of subcutaneous tissue, deep soft tissue or parenchymal organs, with no dermal involvement

 

Epidemiology

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● Usually adult males > 25 years

● Head and neck and lower limb

 

Clinical

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● Rare, <1% of fibrohistiocytic tumors

 

Treatment and prognosis

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● Excision; may recur if incompletely excised, rare metastases

 

Gross description

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● Well circumscribed with pseudo-capsule, typically 4 cm, variable hemorrhage

 

Micro description

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● Prominent storiform pattern of uniform spindle cells with ill defined eosinophilic cytoplasm and bland, elongated or plump vesicular nuclei with no atypia

● Often hemangiopericytoma-like vasculature

● Scattered lymphocytes, and either multinucleated giant cells, osteoclastic giant cells or foam cells in 59%

● Usually less than 5 mitotic figures/10 HPF

● Stroma is myxoid or hyaline

● Borders are non-infiltrative, with no trapping of fat cells

● No/rare necrosis or angiolymphatic invasion

 

Micro images

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Circumscribed tumor                                        Cellular tumor                                     Tumor with more

with no trapped fat                                                                                                             fibrous stroma

 

 

                                                     

Presence of foam cells                                    Focal storiform pattern                     Hemangiopericytoma

helps distinguish from                                      and uniform cellularity                      like vascular pattern

DFSP

 

 

                                                        

HPC-like                                                                Spindle cells (arrow), hemosiderin              

vascular pattern                                                 (wide arrow) and mild atypia

 

Positive stains

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● CD34 (40%), smooth muscle actin (38%)

 

Negative stains

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● Keratin, EMA, desmin, S100

 

Differential diagnosis

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● Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) - not circumscribed, usually infiltrative borders, “tight” storiform pattern, uniform cellularity, usually no foam cells, strongly CD34+, Factor XIIIa weak/negative (Semin Cutan Med Surg 1999;18:91)

● Solitary fibrous tumor - patternless (not storiform), alternating hypo- and hypercellular areas, prominent collagen fibers, no histiocytes, strongly CD34+

 

Additional references

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AJSP 2008;32:354, AJSP 1994;18:677, AJSP 1990;14:801, Stanford University

 

 

End of Skin / Soft Tissue Tumors > Deep benign fibrous histiocytoma

 

 

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