Solitary fibrous tumors of the pleura: not always a benign entity

Digital clubbing as first sign of giant solitary fibrous tumor. A case report

Solitary fibrous tumors are rare pleural tumors. Most of the time they are benign tumors and identified incidentally once they cause symptoms secondary to their mass effect. Here we present an interesting case of a 54-year-old female found with a giant solitary fibrous tumor with signs of hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy with associated digital clubbing 6 month before identifying the tumor. The initial percutaneous biopsy revealed pathologic findings consistent with benign solitary fibrous tumor, but after complete mass excision diagnosis was upgraded to a malignant solitary fibrous tumor. Percutaneous biopsy results should not guide therapy in these patients; this is why complete excision continues to be the treatment of choice.