Granular cell tumor. An analysis of 16 cases and review of the literature.

Sixteen patients with granular cell tumors were seen between 1964 and 1979. The medical data of these patients showed an average age incidence of 39 years and a greater frequency among Negroes (69%) and in female patients (62.5%). The most common sign (in 12 of 16 patients) was the presence of an asymptomatic mass. There was a total of 88 tumors in 16 patients; 74 arose in the skin, 6 in the oral cavity, 2 each in the breast and perineum, and 1 each in the larynx, parotid gland, eyelid, and appendix. Multiple tumors were noted in 4 patients (25%), all of whom were Negroes. The histogenesis of this tumor is still controversial but appears to favor the theory of multipotential undifferentiated mesenchymal cell origin.