title: Plexiform schwannoma involving the trachea and recurrent laryngeal nerve: a case report.
abstract: Plexiform schwannoma is an infrequent variant of schwannoma characterized grossly and microscopically by multi-nodular growth. Although plexiform schwannoma has such growth patterns, it is a benign tumor as well as a conventional schwannoma. It rarely infiltrates adjacent organs or arises from the organ itself. In this report, we describe a case in which plexiform schwannoma involved the tracheal wall and left recurrent laryngeal nerve to a great extent. As it was expected to be difficult to achieve complete resection even if the longer tracheal resection were performed, we preserved the trachea and resected as much of the tumor as possible. This report is thought to be the first to describe plexiform schwannoma infiltrating or growing from the trachea. Although the treatment decisions we made might be controversial, we believed we could make an accurate diagnosis and adequate treatment decision through surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kanagawa Cancer Center, 2-3-2 Nakao, Asahi-ku, Yokohama, 241-0815 Japan.
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nagata
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kanagawa Cancer Center, 2-3-2 Nakao, Asahi-ku, Yokohama, 241-0815 Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kanagawa Cancer Center, 2-3-2 Nakao, Asahi-ku, Yokohama, 241-0815 Japan.
authors.forename: Tomohiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsuzaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kanagawa Cancer Center, 2-3-2 Nakao, Asahi-ku, Yokohama, 241-0815 Japan.
authors.forename: Hideyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Furumoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kanagawa Cancer Center, 2-3-2 Nakao, Asahi-ku, Yokohama, 241-0815 Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Isaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kanagawa Cancer Center, 2-3-2 Nakao, Asahi-ku, Yokohama, 241-0815 Japan.
authors.forename: Teppei
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishii
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Kanagawa Cancer Center, 2-3-2 Nakao, Asahi-ku, Yokohama, 241-0815 Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yokose
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kanagawa Cancer Center, 2-3-2 Nakao, Asahi-ku, Yokohama, 241-0815 Japan.
authors.forename: Haruhiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakayama
keywords: Mediastinal tumor; Plexiform schwannoma; Tracheal tumor