بررسي 539 مورد شوآنوماي خوش خيم و بدخيم طي سال هاي 80-1350

A REPORT OF 539 CASES OF SCHWANNOMAS AT IMAM KHOMEINI HOSPITAL, TEHRAN UNIVERSITY

Schwannomas are rare, benign nerve sheath tumors, but most tumors of peripheral nerves are the result of proliferation of the active and versatile Schwann cells that sheathe the fibers. Schwannomas can occur anywhere in bone, soft tissue or the viscera, but the more common locations include the soft tissue of head and neck, extremities, trunk, mediastinum and retroperitoneum. They are usually solitary painless lesions, but when they attain a larger dimension, they can produce pressure symptoms of paresthesia or local tenderness. This study has been carried out at Imam Khomeini hospital on patients suffering from benign and malignant schwannomas during the past 30 years. This cross-sectional study on existing data was performed on 539 patients with benign and malignant schwannomas from 1971 to 2001. In this study, tumor distribution between males and females has not shown any significant difference. In the central nervous system, the tumor was more common in females, but at all other sites, it was more common in males. The minimum age was 3 years and the maximum age was 88 years. The mean age was 33.8 years with 31 years median and 33 years mode. The benign form was more common, but the foot was the most common site for the malignant form. Though the number of patients included in this study was considerably large, the results didnʹt differ front other studies and reports conducted elsewhere. As a schwannoma can occur at any location in the body at any age, we recommend that it should be on the differential diagnosis list of any firm, nontender soft tissue mass in the body.