Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2017 Jul;30(3):340-342.
doi: 10.1080/08998280.2017.11929641.

Elastofibroma dorsi

Affiliations
Case Reports

Elastofibroma dorsi

Pradeep Goyal et al. Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). 2017 Jul.

Abstract

We present a 60-year-old man with biopsy-proven metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the right inguinal and external iliac lymph nodes with unknown primary. Hypermetabolic soft tissue masses were identified in bilateral subscapular regions on follow-up positron emission tomography (PET)-computed tomography (CT) after completion of chemoradiation. The right subscapular mass was biopsied under CT guidance, and histopathology showed it to be elastofibroma dorsi. Elastofibroma dorsi is a benign tumor with no malignant potential; due to its ill-defined appearance and tracer uptake on PET-CT, it can be misdiagnosed as soft tissue sarcoma. This report describes the typical location and imaging features of this incidental hypermetabolic mass.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Posttreatment positron emission tomography (PET)–computed tomography (CT) in a 60-year-old man. (a) Axial CT scan at the level of the left atrium shows crescent-shaped soft tissue masses in both subscapular lesions deep to the latissimus dorsi muscles, with the right bigger than the left (white arrows). (b) Axial nonattenuation corrected PET image shows tracer uptake in the bilateral posterolateral chest (black arrows). (c) The fused PET-CT image, in which the area of hypermetabolic activity corresponds to the soft tissue masses (white arrows), shows an SUV max of 2.7 in the right mass and 2.1 in the left.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Limited prone CT images show grid placement for (a) preprocedure planning and (b) subsequent biopsy needle in the right subscapular mass.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
(a, b) Hematoxylin and eosin staining of the biopsy specimen shows altered elastin fibers (yellow arrows) and interspersed mature adipose tissue in a fibrous background. (c) Note the characteristic wavy, serrated edges (yellow arrow) and beaded appearance (blue circle) of the elastic fibers. The inset shows a magnified view. (d) Elastin stains show deeply staining branched and unbranched elastin fibers (yellow arrows).

References

    1. Jarvi O, Saxen E. Elastofibroma dorsi. Acta Pathol Microbiol Scand Suppl. 1961;51(Suppl 144):83–84. - PubMed
    1. Fibla J, Molins L, Marco V, Pérez J, Vidal G. Bilateral elastofibroma dorsi. Joint Bone Spine. 2007;74(2):194–196. - PubMed
    1. Nagamine N, Nohara Y, Ito E. Elastofibroma in Okinawa. A clinicopathologic study of 170 cases. Cancer. 1982;50(9):1794–1805. - PubMed
    1. Mirra JM, Straub LR, Jarvi OH. Elastofibroma of the deltoid. A case report. Cancer. 1974;33(1):234–238. - PubMed
    1. Enjoji M, Sumiyoshi K, Sueyoshi K. Elastofibromatous lesion of the stomach in a patient with elastofibroma dorsi. Am J Surg Pathol. 1985;9(3):233–237. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources