FIBROUS TUMORS IN CHILDREN - IMAGING FEATURES OF A HETEROGENEOUS GROUP OF DISORDERS

Background. Fibrous tumours are predominantly soft tissue lesions whic h are relatively frequent in childhood but are little known. Imaging i s often used in the evaluation of these tumours but their characterist ics, particularly on US or MRI, have not been studied systematically. Objectives. To provide an overview of the clinical and imaging feature s of the different disorders, and to correlate them with the currently used classification schemes. Material and methods. Twenty-five patien ts with fibrous tumours were evaluated retrospectively. Clinical histo ries were studied for the histopathological diagnosis, age, signs and symptoms at presentation, mode of therapy and follow-up where availabl e. Imaging findings were analysed for the following variables: number, location, size, margin and architecture of soft tissue and/or viscera l lesions and the presence and pattern of osseous involvement. Compari son with the available literature was performed. Results. The followin g tumour types were encountered: desmoid fibromatosis (n = 9), myofibr omatosis (n = 7), fibromatosis colli (n = 2), congenital-infantile fib rosarcoma (rt = 2), adult-type fibrosarcoma (n = 2), fibrous hamartoma of infancy (n = 1), angiofibroma (n = 1) and hyaline fibromatosis (n = 1). Conclusions. While some tumours were non-specific in their clini cal and radiological manifestation, others such as myofibromatosis, fi bromatosis colli, fibrous hamartoma of infancy and angiofibroma exhibi ted a characteristic pattern which allowed a diagnosis to be made even without histology.