Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor with glandular differentiation in a patient with neurofibromatosis type 1

Am J Dermatopathol. 2013 Dec;35(8):859-63. doi: 10.1097/DAD.0b013e318284a611.

Abstract

: The authors report an unusual case of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor with malignant differentiation arising as a subcutaneous nodule in the thigh of a 53-year-old woman with a history significant for neurofibromatosis type 1. Peripheral nerve sheath tumors containing a glandular component, commonly referred to as glandular peripheral nerve sheath tumors, are rare neoplasms found largely in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1. These tumors are frequently malignant; recognition of metastatic potential is made based on the atypical spindle-cell component. Rarely, as in our case, the glandular component is also histologically malignant. Only 5 such tumors have been described in the literature to date. Glandular differentiation, particularly with malignant features, can be a potentially misleading feature when found as a component of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors and raise a wide spectrum of differential diagnoses, including metastatic Sertoli-Leydig tumors. The patient is free of disease for 22 months after wide tumor reexcision, which contrasts with previously reported devastatingly poor prognosis of these tumors.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Cell Differentiation
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Middle Aged
  • Neurilemmoma / complications
  • Neurilemmoma / pathology*
  • Neurofibromatosis 1 / complications*
  • Soft Tissue Neoplasms / complications
  • Soft Tissue Neoplasms / pathology*