Outcome of surgery in patients with solitary fibrous tumors of the pleura.

BACKGROUND: Solitary fibrous tumor of the pleura is rare, and the origin is submesothelial tissue. These tumors are seen in lung infrequently, and most are benign. We report our experience in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with solitary fibrous tumors of the pleura.

METHODS: We studied 13 patients (6 men and 7 women, aged 26 to 76 years) with a diagnosis of benign solitary fibrous tumor of the pleura who were operated on from 2001 to 2014. One had a recurrent tumor after 10 years, and the others had primary tumors. Our approach was complete resection in all cases.

RESULTS: After surgical excision, the most essential characteristic on histopathology was a neoplastic lesion composed of spindle-shaped tumor cells with hyperchromatic nuclei and eosinophilic bands of collagen. On immunohistochemical analysis, the cells were positive for desmin and negative for actin, synaptophysin, chromogranin, and CD117.

CONCLUSIONS: The essential step in the treatment of a patient with a diagnosis of benign solitary fibrous tumor of the pleura is complete resection. These patients should be followed up for a long time because of the possibility of late recurrence. Due to the rarity of these tumors, there has been no systematic assessment of the role of adjuvant therapy for benign solitary fibrous tumor of the pleura.