title: Extranodal follicular dendritic cell sarcoma: A clinicopathological report of four cases and a literature review.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to characterize the clinicopathological features of follicular dendritic cell sarcoma (FDCS), and to report the experience of the Xin Hua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine (Shanghai, China) with this entity. The clinicopathological findings of four cases that had recently been encountered and 142 previously reported cases in the English literature were evaluated. The current tumors were found in two male and two female patients, aged 49-76 years old, who exhibited a mean tumor size of 8.7 cm. Three of the four cases were misdiagnosed during the initial diagnosis and one experienced intra-abdominal recurrence six months after the first diagnosis. Assessment of all 142 cases in the literature revealed a mild female predominance. The tumors exhibited a mean tumor size of ~7.0 cm. Histologically, the tumors were composed of plump spindle- or oval-shaped cells that exhibited eosinophilic cytoplasm and were arranged in sheets, storiform patterns or whorls. Immunohistochemically, the neoplastic cells expressed at least one of the FDC markers. Among the 130 cases with follow-up data, the overall recurrence, metastasis and mortality rates were 49.2% (64 cases), 21.5% (28 cases), and 13.8% (18 cases), respectively. FDCS can appear deceptively similar to other soft-tissue tumors, even poorly-differentiated carcinomas. A correct diagnosis requires a high degree of suspicion and immunohistochemical evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Xin Hua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200092, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Rui-Fen
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The First Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The First Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The First Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Li-Hui
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The Fourth Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zheng-Cai
authors.initials: ZC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Xin Hua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200092, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Li-Feng
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: extranodal; follicular dendritic cell sarcoma; literature review