Giant solitary ancient schwannoma of the pleura masquerading as bronchopneumonia

Intrapulmonary Ancient Schwannoma: a Rare Tumour

Schwannomas are benign encapsulated neoplasms which arise from Schwann cells of the neural sheath. Ancient schwannoma is a rare variant of schwannoma which is often misdiagnosed as a malignant neoplasm owing to degenerative changes. They are known to show degenerative nuclear atypia, cystic degeneration, hyalinization, myxoid change and haemorrhage. We present a rare case of an intrapulmonary ancient schwannoma in a 34-year-old female patient.

A Rare Case of Primary Pleural Neurofibroma

Metastatic deposits are the most common cause of pleural masses, solitary or multiple. Primary pleural neoplasms are rare entities that are occasionally encountered. Of these, the tumors of neurogenic origin are exceedingly rare with only a few cases reported in the literature. We describe a case of an isolated neurofibroma involving the pleura in a 23-year-old male patient, who underwent CT and MRI scans of the thorax as part of the initial investigations. The final diagnosis was clinched by a CT-guided biopsy of the lesion.

[Primary benign schwannoma of the pleura: Report of 2 cases]

The preferred thoracic location of a schwannoma is the posterior mediastinum. A pleural location is very rare. To date there have been fewer than 20 cases in the literature. We report two operated cases of primary benign pleural schwannoma. The first occurred in a 52-year-old woman who presented with right-sided chest pain and chronic cough. The radiological appearance suggested a hydatid cyst of the lower right lobe. The second case concerned a 37-year-old, asymptomatic man with no past history, who presented with a left posterior mediastinal mass, discovered incidentally on imaging. Both patients underwent complete surgical resection via a posterolateral thoracotomy. The final anatomo-pathological investigation revealed two primary benign schwannomas of the pleura.