title: Benign glandular schwannoma.
abstract: The vast majority of reported glandular schwannomas, the rarest type of divergent differentiation in nerve sheath neoplasms, have been malignant tumors. We describe a benign glandular schwannoma, less than 1 cm in diameter, that developed in the deep subcutaneous region of the left flank of a 36-year-old woman. The glandular component occurred as a single large cyst with an undulating lining occupying the central one third of the lesion and was lined in large part by a well-oriented, flattened, single cell layer of cuboidal to low columnar cells with a basement membrane. This extremely unusual lesion, apparently the fourth benign instance reported, is important for several reasons: (1) it does not appear to be a result of inclusion of previously postulated dermal adnexal glands; (2) it further establishes the existence of a true benign counterpart of the glandular schwannoma, of which pathologists should be aware; (3) it can be distinguished from the recently reported pseudoglandular schwannoma; and (4) it lends additional support to the concept of a direct metaplastic origin of the epithelial element from the schwannian component because of the focal presence of a maloriented pseudoglandular element.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Medical School, Philadelphia.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Draffen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009442:Neurilemmoma / Q000473:pathology*; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*