Abstract

Cellular angiofibroma (CAF) is a rare distinctive mesenchymal neoplasm that occurs almost exclusively in the genital area. We report the case of a 38-year-old woman who presented with an asymptomatic subcutaneous mass, 3.5 cm in diameter, located in the left hypochondrium, which had progressively enlarged during the previous 6 months. The lesion was completely excised. No recurrence was observed 3 months after the excision. A review of the literature--and including the present report--revealed five cases (three men and two women) with location outside the urogenital tract. Mean age was 57 (range 38-78) years; mean 41 years for women and 68 years for men. Average tumor size was 9 (range 3.5-25) cm; mean 5 cm for women and 12 cm for men. Tumors were located in the superficial soft tissue of the trunk, except for one case in the retroperitoneum. Mean follow-up was 29 (range 3-102) months, and no patient developed recurrence or metastasis. Extragenital CAF, except for location, shows similar clinicopathological features to genital CAF. Simple tumorectomy appears to be adequate treatment. Morphologically, CAF is closely related to spindle cell lipoma.