Case report

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

Francesca Rovera¹ , Giovanna Imbriglio¹ , Giorgio Limonta¹ , Marina Marelli¹ , Stefano La Rosa² , Fausto Sessa³ , Gianlorenzo Dionigi¹ , Luigi Boni¹ and Renzo Dionigi¹

¹  Department of Surgical Sciences, Ospedale di Circolo, Varese, Italy

²  Department of Pathology, Ospedale di Circolo, Varese, Italy

³  Department of Human Morphology, University of Insubria Varese and Department of Pathology, Multimedica, Milano, Italy

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World Journal of Surgical Oncology 2008, 6:16doi:10.1186/1477-7819-6-16

Published:	7 February 2008

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.