About a case of calcifying fibrous tumor of the pleura

Calcifying fibrous tumor is a rare soft tissue benign tumor (OMS 2002). Some pleural localisations are described, which affect slightly older individuals than the other soft tissue forms. The calcifying fibrous tumor is included in the 2004 World Health Organization classification of pleural tumors. A pleural tumor located in the right inferior pulmonary lobe is diagnosed in a 59-year-old man. This pleural tumor is macroscopically well-circumscribed. Histologically, the rare spindle tumoral cells are located between bundles of a collagenous tissue, sometimes hyalinized, with psammomatous or dystrophic calcifications. The tumoral cells have a fibrohistiocytic origin. They stain positively for antibodies against vimentin, factor XIIIa, CD68, CD163, CD34. Antibodies against smooth muscle actin, desmin, PS100, ALK1 and EBV are negative. Main differencial diagnoses are other benign pleural tumors (solitary fibrous tumor, inflammatory myofibroblastique tumor), some malignant tumors (desmoplastic malignant pleural mesothelioma) and pleural pseudotumors (calcified pleural plaques, chronic fibrous pleuritis, amylose, hyalinizing granuloma). Our case is the 15th pleural calcifying fibrous tumor being reported.