Cutaneous metastasis of pleomorphic liposarcoma to the scalp: an elusive diagnosis

Metastatic Epithelioid Pleomorphic Liposarcoma in the Brain: A Case Report

Metastatic soft tissue sarcoma (STS) to the brain is rare, and metastatic pleomorphic liposarcoma (PLPS) to the brain is even rarer. We present the case of a 76-year-old male with an incidental finding of a brain mass on a brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) following a head injury. Additionally, multiple pulmonary nodules and a right gluteal mass were discovered. A core biopsy of the right gluteal mass revealed an epithelioid malignant neoplasm expressing transcription factor enhancer 3 (TFE3) by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Subsequently, the left middle fossa brain mass was removed and found to be an epithelioid PLPS, which was positive for TFE3 by IHC but lacked TFE3 rearrangement by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and negative for murine double minute (MDM2) amplification by FISH. The diagnosis of epithelioid PLPS mainly relies on histomorphology. This paper discusses the clinicopathological correlation of PLPS, including the epithelioid variant, with a focus on cases with brain metastases.

Pleomorphic Liposarcoma of Femur: A Rare Soft Tissue Sarcoma Metastasized to the Bone—Case Report and Review of Literature

Background

Pleomorphic liposarcoma (PLPS) accounts for less than 5% of liposarcoma, and its metastasis to bone is rare. As a high-grade tumor, PLPS is reported to be more invasive with high local recurrence and distant metastasis. Here, we report a case of PLPS of the femur and undertake a review of the literature. Case Presentation. A 58-year-old man presented with a big mass at posterior aspect of his left thigh. The computed tomography of the chest for staging revealed two nodules at the left upper lung field. Wide resection of the soft tissue mass at the left thigh was performed by a general surgeon. Thoracotomy and wedge resection of the lung nodules was carried out by a cardiothoracic surgeon. Pathologic diagnosis suggested PLPS. Three years later, he was presented with sudden right hip pain after he slipped. The plain radiograph revealed an osteolytic lesion at the right proximal femur with minimally displaced pathological fracture. The MRI showed the presence of a tumor at the proximal part of the right femur and its soft tissue invasion. The patient underwent en bloc proximal femur wide resection followed by cemented long-stem bipolar hemiarthroplasty. The final histopathology report from definite surgery specimen revealed pleomorphic spindle, round, and polygonal cells arranged in sheets, short fascicles, and storiform arrays. There were no complications, adverse outcomes, or recurrence reported at six months after surgery. The patient could walk without gait aid and had good functional outcomes according to the TESS questionnaire.

Conclusion

PLPS is a highly aggressive tumor with a high distant metastatic rate. The definite diagnosis of PLPS is made on the basis of histopathology. Surgical treatment involving wide resection that aims to achieve a negative margin is the best option currently available, and we recommend treating bone metastasis from PLPS as the primary site of the tumor. The effect of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in preventing postoperative recurrence is still unclear and requires further studies.

Liposarcoma subtype recurrence and survival: A UK regional cohort study

BACKGROUND

Clinical outcome data in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States have yet to facilitate appropriately specific surveillance for liposarcoma histological subtypes, despite being one of the most common soft tissue sarcomas. Therefore, this study aims to demonstrate histologic-specific differences in liposarcoma recurrence, disease progression, and survival and discuss the implications.

METHODS AND FINDINGS

This cohort study involves patients from a regional sarcoma service in the UK who have had a primary surgical excision of liposarcoma between October 2002 and September 2019. The median follow-up is five years. Confirmed histopathological diagnoses of liposarcoma (n = 193) are organised according to the World Health Organisation recognised subtypes: atypical lipomatous tumours (ALT), myxoid, pleomorphic, and dedifferentiated liposarcomas. In addition, retroperitoneal variants (n = 34) are included to illustrate the broader spectrum of phenotypes. The primary outcomes were local recurrence, distant disease progression, and disease-specific death, and compared using Kaplan-Meier analyses and tumour variables using Cox proportional hazard analyses. All three primary outcomes significantly differed (P < 0.0001, n = 193). There were no metastases or disease-specific death in patients with ALT (n = 92) and no metastases of their retroperitoneal counterparts (n = 17). Amongst the metastasising cases of rarer subtypes, there were pulmonary spread of pleomorphic (8/9, n = 20), dedifferentiated (4/5, n = 18), and myxoid (2/3, n = 29) liposarcomas.

CONCLUSION

An absence of metastases of ALT should be considered alongside global evidence. Surveillance protocols could better differentiate between these subtypes and, in doing so, save patients a considerable amount of irradiation, time, fear, and anxiety.

Expanding the differential of cutaneous epithelioid tumors: A case of dedifferentiated liposarcoma with epithelioid features involving the skin, with review of the literature

Liposarcomas are categorized into four distinct histopathological subtypes: atypical lipomatous tumors (ALT)/well-differentiated liposarcoma (WDL), dedifferentiated, myxoid, and pleomorphic. Dedifferentiated liposarcomas account for approximately 18% of all liposarcomas, characteristically arising in the deep soft tissue. They are reported to have lower rates of metastasis compared to other pleomorphic sarcomas.^{1 -3} The classic histopathologic appearance is ALT/WDL admixed or juxtaposed with a predominantly nonlipogenic sarcoma. Epithelioid features are rare, appearing in as few as 3% of tumors, and have not previously been reported in a superficial location. Herein, we present a 57-year-old male with intradermal and subcutaneous metastasis of his known deep dedifferentiated liposarcoma with epithelioid features. By H&E the tumor featured cords and sheets of crowded, plump, epithelioid cells with thick nuclear membranes and prominent nucleoli, which raised a broad differential including carcinoma and melanoma. By immunohistochemistry the tumor was diffusely positive for MDM2 and CDK4, on the other hand stains for Sox10, Melan A, MITF, CKAE1/3, desmin, and S100 protein were negative. This case serves as an opportunity to raise awareness of this rare morphological subtype, which can involve the skin and mimic epithelial and melanocytic malignancies. It can be a potential diagnostic pitfall, especially if metastases are the first presentation.

Liposarcoma: Advances in Cellular and Molecular Genetics Alterations and Corresponding Clinical Treatment

Liposarcoma is a malignant tumor of mesenchymal origin with significant tissue diversity. It is composed of adipocytes with different degrees of differentiation and different degrees of heteromorphosis. It is not sensitive to traditional radiotherapy and chemotherapy and has a poor prognosis. In recent years, with the rapid development of basic immunology, molecular genetics and tumor molecular biology, the histological classification of liposarcoma has become increasingly clear. More and more new methods and technologies, such as gene expression profile analysis, the whole genome sequencing, miRNA expression profile analysis and RNA sequencing, have been successfully applied to liposarcoma, bringing about a deeper understanding of gene expression changes and molecular pathogenic mechanisms in the occurrence and development of liposarcoma. This study reviews the present research status and progress of cellular and molecular alterations of liposarcoma and corresponding clinical treatment progress.

Alopecia neoplastica as a sign of visceral malignancies: a systematic review

Alopecia neoplastica (AN) from visceral tumours is a rare form of cutaneous metastasis in which internal malignancies spread to the scalp. The diagnosis of AN may be very challenging, especially when its onset precedes the diagnosis of the primary tumour. We aimed to improve the knowledge on AN, highlighting that in case of scarring localized alopecia, a differential diagnosis with metastasis should always be considered. We performed a systematic review to describe the main demographic and clinical features associated with AN from visceral malignancies; a survival analysis was also performed. In 118 reports, accounting for 123 patients, we found that women were more affected by AN than men (53.7% vs. 46.3%). The most frequent site of the primary tumour was the gastrointestinal tract (24.4%), followed by breast (17.9%), kidney (8.1%), lung (7.3%), thyroid (7.3%), uterus (6.5%), central nervous system (6.5%), liver (3.3%) and other anatomic areas for 18.7% of cases. Furthermore, in more than half of the cases (66.1%), AN lesions were single and were mainly diagnosed after the primary visceral tumour (71.5%). Finally, survival analysis highlighted a lower progression-free survival in men; while, no significant differences in overall survival were reported among genders. In conclusion, metastatic skin disease should always be taken into consideration when dealing with patients with localized scarring alopecia.