A cervical solitary fibrous tumor with intramedullary invasion

Abstract

Solitary fibrous tumor is a tumor originating from the mesenchymal cells, which occurrence in the central nervous system is extremely rare and was described in few patients as to yet. We report on a 53-years old male patient presenting with right upper limb radicular pain and ipsilateral limbs paresis, who was diagnosed with a cervical spinal lesion which, after surgical resection, resulted to be a solitary fibrous tumor (SFT). We discuss imaging, clinical and histopathological findings to allow considering this tumor early in the differential diagnosis.

Keywords: Intramedullary spine tumor; Solitary fibrous tumor; Spinal cord compression.

Figure 1:

(a-d) Preoperative MRI aspect of the lesion, showing isointensity in T1 (a), hypointensity in T2 (b) and a homogeneous contrast enhancement lesion (c and d).

Figure 2:

Intraoperative microscopical view after the opening of dura mater and hemostasis, showing the gray-whitish intramedullar lesion that includes radicles.

Figure 3:

(a and b) SFT composed of spindled monomorphic cells admixed with collagenous stroma and capillaries (HematoxilinEosin, ×2.5) (a), STAT6 immunoistochemistry: nuclear expression in neoplastic cells; endotelial cell are negative (STAT6, ×30) (b).