PROLIFERATIVE FASCIITIS OF THE FOREARM - CASE-REPORT WITH IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL, ULTRASTRUCTURAL AND DNA-PLOIDY STUDIES AND A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

A case of proliferative fasciitis arising in the left forearm of a, 58 -year-old man was examined. The lesion was preceded by blunt trauma, m easured 1.5 x 1.3 x 1.0 cm, was poorly circumscribed and appeared whit e to light gray on the cut surface. Light microscopic examinations rev ealed that spindle cells and giant cells with one or two nuclei and ab undant basophilic cytoplasm were arranged without any organized patter ns in collagenous stroma. Ultrastructurally, well-developed rough endo plasmic reticulum separated by varying amounts of fine to course fibri llar materials was detected in the giant cells. Only vimentin immunore activity was detected in both spindle and giant cells. The Ki-67 label ing index of spindle cells was 35% but that of giant cells was less th an 5%, and this reflects the quiescent or slow-growing features of the se giant cells in proliferative fasciitis. DNA content of the cells, w hich was examined by image cytometry, demonstrated diploidy in both sp indle (DNA index = 1.01) and giant (DNA index = 1.09) cells.