Case report
Primary Myelolipoma of the Chest Wall

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.athoracsur.2009.06.085Get rights and content

Myelolipoma is a rare neoplasm composed of an admixture of mature adipose tissue and hematopoietic elements. It typically occurs in adrenal glands as a solitary, well-circumscribed mass, and the thoracic location is extremely unusual. We present a 63-year-old man with an accidentally detected tumor of the chest wall. Thoracoscopic resection and subsequent histopathologic examination of the lesion revealed myelolipoma with bony spicules, which are an unusual component in this neoplasm. We discuss the etiology, histopathology, differential diagnosis, and recommended management of extra-adrenal myelolipoma, and we conclude that it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of subpleural chest wall tumors.

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Comment

Myelolipoma is an uncommon benign neoplasm usually presenting as a small, solitary, encapsulated lesion located in the adrenal gland, although giant tumors have also been described [6]. Extra-adrenal ML is much more seldom and may occur in the liver, stomach, mesentery, spleen, retroperitoneum, pre-sacral area, or thorax [1, 2]. Thoracic location is very rare and only a few cases have been described [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. In the majority of cases, ML is asymptomatic and usually found accidentally on

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