PURPOSE: The purpose of this work is to describe the CT and MR appearance of primary malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) of the chest wall. METHOD: Eleven men and eight women (45-76 years old) with primary MFH of the chest wall who underwent both CT and MRI were enrolled, and the imaging interpretation was retrospectively compared to the pathologic specimen. RESULTS: All tumors were inhomogeneous in appearance on CT scans. All tumors showed high signal intensity on T2-weighted images. On T1-weighted MR images, tumors displayed inhomogeneous isosignal intensity in 15 cases (79%) and low signal intensity in 5 (21%) compared with the surrounding muscle. Tumors exhibited inhomogeneous enhancement in all except three localized tumors on enhanced CT and MRI. Invasion of intercostal muscle was noted on MR images in 18 patients (95%) and on CT in 11 patients (58%). CONCLUSION: There might be various radiologic appearances of MFH. However, CT and MRI are able to demonstrate the exact localization and disease extent of MFH arising in the chest wall.
PURPOSE: The purpose of this work is to describe the CT and MR appearance of primary malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) of the chest wall. METHOD: Eleven men and eight women (45-76 years old) with primary MFH of the chest wall who underwent both CT and MRI were enrolled, and the imaging interpretation was retrospectively compared to the pathologic specimen. RESULTS: All tumors were inhomogeneous in appearance on CT scans. All tumors showed high signal intensity on T2-weighted images. On T1-weighted MR images, tumors displayed inhomogeneous isosignal intensity in 15 cases (79%) and low signal intensity in 5 (21%) compared with the surrounding muscle. Tumors exhibited inhomogeneous enhancement in all except three localized tumors on enhanced CT and MRI. Invasion of intercostal muscle was noted on MR images in 18 patients (95%) and on CT in 11 patients (58%). CONCLUSION: There might be various radiologic appearances of MFH. However, CT and MRI are able to demonstrate the exact localization and disease extent of MFH arising in the chest wall.