A histopathological study was done on 16 cartes of malignant Schwannoma that were
diagnosed at the Department of Pathology, Seoul National University during a period of
13 years, from January 1968 to December 1980. The 16 malignant Schwannomas were
distributed in the mediastinum(5), extremities(4), abdominal cavity(2) ,retroperitoneum (1)
, etc. The peripheral nerve of origin was identified in four cases, and these were
sciatic(2), femoral (1) and musculocutaneous (1).
In two cases, electron microscopy was done and the Schwann cell origin was strongly
supported by the ultrastructual findings of the tumors showing basement membranes,
interdigitated intercellular junction and desmosomes.
Histopathological features on malignant Schwannoma were characterized by
mesodermal elements that were intermingling with Schwannian elements, such as
cartilage, osteoid and rhabdomyoblasts. Two cases of malignant Schwannoma revealed
eosinophilic granular cells in the midst of the tumor tissue. These cells demonstrated
secondary lysosome in the cytoplasm electromicroscopially.
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