A benign neoplasm with histopathological features of both schwannoma and retiform perineurioma (benign schwannoma-perineurioma): a report of six cases of a distinctive soft tissue tumor with a predilection for the fingers

We present six cases of a distinctive soft tissue tumor which occurred in five women and one man. None of the patients had signs of neurofibromatosis. All tumors occurred on the fingers (n=5) or the thenar eminence of the hand (n=1). The mean age of the patients was 33 years. The tumors were 1–2.5 cm in diameter (mean size 1.6 cm). Three patients with follow-up were without signs of recurrence or metastasis. Microscopically the lesions were nonencapsulated and featured a multilobular architecture and both myxoid and pseudocystic change. The lobules varied in size and shape and were separated by variably thickened, dense, sclerotic/collagenous septae. The lobules were composed of two components: schwannomatous and perineuriomatous. The schwannomatous component was immunohistochemically S-100 protein positive and CD34 and EMA negative, and the perineuriomatous component had the appearance of retiform perineurioma. The perineurial parts were mostly S-100 protein and CD34 negative and EMA positive. These two components either formed separate nodules or the schwannomatous tissue surrounded the perineurial parts located in the centers of the lobules. We interpreted the lesions as hybrid tumors with features of schwannoma and retiform perineurioma.