DISTRIBUTION AND EVALUATION OF MUSCULOSKELETAL SOFT TISSUE TUMORS IN HISTOPATHOLOGICAL SPECIMENS

*Ahmad Almgidad, MD., Noor Megdadi, MD., Bara' Dagher, MD., Ola M. Alwaqfi, MD. and Mutaz Ghabashneh, MD.

ABSTRACT

Background: Soft tissue sarcomas, in contrast to benign lesions, are rare and account for 1% of all malignant tumors. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), soft tissue tumors are classified based on their resemblance to their normal counterpart. Regardless that tumors-histopathological study is the confirmatory test, certain tumors require immunohistochemical staining and genetic analysis to categorize them. Methods: A part of a retrospective, single-center study, all the histopathological reports of musculoskeletal soft tissue tumors in the period of January 2017 - December 2019, were collected from Princess Iman Research Center (PIRC) at King Hussein Medical City (KHMC) in Jordan. Tumors were assessed according to their origin and analyzed according to the anatomical locations as well as to the age groups and genders. Results: In a sample of 350 histopathological specimens, 54.3% were males and 45.7% were females. The mean age for the patients was 45.12 (±16.51) years. Soft tissue sarcomas represent 9.4 % of the findings. Lipoma was the most common benign tumor (65.4 %), followed by giant cell tumors of tendon sheath (16%) and glomus tumor (3.4%) respectively. Regarding soft tissue sarcoma, Liposarcoma was the most common (2.6%), followed by synovial sarcoma (2.3%) and Leiomyosarcoma (1.7%). The back was the most common location of tumors (28.3%), while hand, thigh and shoulder had the following frequency: 16 %, 14.3 %, and 10.3 % respectively. Conclusion: Musculoskeletal soft tissue tumors studies are limited and their frequency is difficult to estimate. Understanding their histopathological types and their distribution regarding age, gender and anatomical locations would aid in diagnosis. Increasing age, a tumor arising from muscles; small round cells, and those of unknown origin, in addition to tumors arising in the leg; pelvis; spine and thigh are more predicted for malignant soft tissue tumors.

Keywords: Musculoskeletal soft tissue tumors, Benign, Malignant, Jordan.