Solitary fibrous tumor of the male breast: a case report and review of the literature

Abstract

Extrapleural solitary fibrous tumors are very rare and occasionally they appear in extraserosal soft tissues or parenchymatous organs. In such cases the right preoperative diagnosis is often difficult and challenging, because both radiological and cytological examinations are not exhaustive. For these reasons, surgical excision is frequently the only way to reach the correct diagnosis and to achieve definitive treatment. A few cases of solitary fibrous tumors have been also described in the breast. Although rare, this lesion opens difficulties in preoperative diagnosis entering in differential diagnosis with other benign lesions as well as with breast cancer. In this article we describe a case of a solitary fibrous tumor of the breast in a 49-year-old man. Problems related to differential diagnosis and the possible pitfalls that can be encountered in the diagnostic iter of such rare tumor are discussed.

Figure 1

Breast ultrasound showed in the right retroareolar region, a solid mass of 3 × 1 cm with homogeneous echostructure and well-defined margins.

Figure 2

A,B,C: The tumor consists of a proliferation of bland-looking cells admixed with thin collagen fibers. Cell appearance ranged from fibroblastic-like cells with elongated nuclei and scanty cytoplasm (A). Cells were immunoreactive for CD34 (B), while they were completely negative for smooth muscle actin (C).