Abstract
Spindle cell lipoma (SCL) is a rare tumor of soft tissues, originally described in 1975 by Enzinger FM and Harvey DA. It is characterized by a mixture of mature adipocytes and undifferentiated spindle cells. This report presents a 39-year-old male case with spindle cell lipoma on his right posterior thigh. He noticed the tumor four years ago. He visited our hospital because the size of the tumor had gradually increased and was accompanied with inflammation. A histological examination of the biopsy specimen showed that the tumor suggested lipoma. The tumor was surgically resected. A histological examination led to the diagnosis of well differentiated liposarcoma, and a wide local excision was performed. We reconfirmed the specimen because there was no typical lipoblast. From the histological and the immunohistological findings, we made a diagnosis of SCL. It is difficult to ascertain a diagnosis of SCL at time. SCL tends to be misdiagnosed as liposarcoma and treated as such. Therefore, it is very important to take a differential diagnosis of SCL into consideration, if the tumor is diagnosed as liposarcoma. [Skin Cancer (Japan) 2006; 21: 71-76]
