Dumbbell Shaped Schwannoma of the Lateral Chest Wall masquandering as a soft tissue sarcoma

Schwannomas are benign, slow growing nerve sheath tumours of Schwann cell origin. They predominantly are known to involve the head, neck and the flexor surfaces of the extremities, retroperitoneum and the posterior spinal roots. The chest wall is a relatively uncommon location for a schwannoma, the vast majority of which are intra-thoracic, which are usually located in the posterior mediastinum and bulge into the thoracic cavity. Schwannomas arising from the lateral chest wall are relatively uncommon (<5 %). Dumbbell shaped schwannomas of the lateral chest wall i.e. with an intra-thoracic and extra-thoracic component, is extraordinarily rare and to the best of our knowledge only one case has been reported prior. We report possibly the second case of a dumbbell shaped lateral chest wall schwannoma in a 33-year-old female patient which masquandered as a case of soft tissue sarcoma. © 2015, Indian Association of Surgical Oncology.