Solitary fibrous tumor of the pleura
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Solitary fibrous tumor of the pleura is mostly asymptomatic. The lesion is usually discovered incidentally on chest radiographs. The tumor may become large, occupying much of the hemithorax. When present, symptoms are usually related to the local mass effect of large lesions or to the associated paraneoplastic phenomena. Paraneoplastic manifestations include hypertrophic osteoarthropathy and hypoglycemia. Surgery is usually curative. Formerly named "benign solitary fibrous tumor of the pleura" but named changed as some of these lesions are malignant.
Diagnosis
Chest X-ray
- Typically demonstrate a well-defined solitary peripheral mass,
CT
- Typically demonstrates well-defined lobular borders, acute angles with the adjacent pleural surfaces, and heterogeneous enhancement after contrast administration.
- Calcification is seen in approximately 25% of cases.
MRI
- Heterogeneous signal intensity on both T1- and T2-weighted images.
- May show internal flow voids corresponding to the vascular nature of the tumors.