Mediastinal pleomorphic liposarcoma diagnosed by fine needle aspiration biopsy: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Progress in radiology and pathology for diagnosing mediastinal tumors has R been made in recent decades, thanks to the use of fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) guided by computed tomography, which has replaced mediastinoscopy and open biopsies. CASE: A 66-year-old male had a history o productive coughing with mucopurulent expectoration, progressive dyspnea, arthralgias, myalgias, astenia and adynamia for the previous 3 months. A CT scan and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a poorly limited tumor mass ofheterogeneous den sity in the anterior mediastinum. FNAB of the tumor mass showed malignant cells compatible with liposarcoma. CONCLUSLON: Of the several types of mesenchymal mediastinal neoplasms, liposarcoma is the most important. Many of them are seen in adults, and <10 cases have been diagnosed in children. The symptoms are related to compression of the nearby airways. Usually liposarcomas are yellow, lobed tumors without capsules that infiltrate adjacent organs and tissues. Microscopically, they have the same histologic spectrum as tumors originating in other sites. Thus, it is common to observe all the histologic varieties of soft tissue liposarcomas. The identification of lipoblasts is the key to the correct diagnosis in FNAB material.