A Case with Schwannoma Originating from the Sensory Sural Nerve

Schwannoma is a rare, slow growing, encapsulated, benign tumor with regular margins which originates from the schwann cells of the nerve sheath. Although schwannomas may occur at any decade of human life, this tumor is common among young and adult patients. Schwannomas generally develop in the head, neck, mediastinum, retroperitoneal region, and over the flexor surfaces of extremities. It is observed to arise particularly from spinal roots as well as vagal, median, ulnar, and sciatic nerves. To our knowledge, this is the first report presenting a schwannoma case arising from the sural nerve along with the radiologic, surgical, and histopathologic findings. The MR images of a 20-year-old male patient who presented with a swelling at the back of his leg revealed a mass with well-defined borders which was localized along the sural nerve trajectory and within the gastrocnemius muscle, exhibiting diffuse enhancement on the contrast-enhanced axial images and hyperintense appearance on the T2-weighted sagittal images. During surgery,the tumor, which was observed to arise from the nerve sheath and separate the sural nerve fascicles, was subjected to total resection. No recurrence was observed during the postsurgical period. It should be borne in mind that tumoral developments growing into large tumors within soft tissues may also arise from peripheral nerves.