Multiple spindle cell lipomas and dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans within a single patient: evidence for a common neoplastic process of interstitial dendritic cells?

Abstract

This case report describes a 48-year-old man with multiple spindle cell lipomas of the neck and a dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) with fibrosarcomatous transformation of the chest. The presence of familial and nonfamilial multiple spindle cell lipomas within a single patient is a rare event, with only two reports in the current literature. This case represents the first report of multiple spindle cell lipomas occurring in association with a DFSP. It is of particular interest in that both spindle cell lipoma and DFSP represent, at least in part, neoplastic proliferations of CD34(+) spindled cells. The exact nature and differentiation of these spindled cells remains controversial, but prior studies have suggested that they could represent neoplastic interstitial dendritic cells. The association of DFSP and spindle cell lipoma within this single patient suggests that these two tumors (and their histologic variants) may well be linked, conceptually, as neoplastic proliferations of CD34(+) interstitial dendritic cells.