Localized benign pleural mesothelioma: a case report.

Primary neoplasms of the pleura are rare tumors and the majority are generally mesotheliomas. Mesotheliomas are either localized and mostly benign, or diffuse and uniformly malignant neoplasms. Localised benign pulmonary mesothelioma (solitary fibrous tumor of the pleura) are originally thought to be a variant of diffuse pleural mesothelioma because they consists of a spindle cell stroma associated with branching tubular structures lined by cuboidal cells. Our case which is reported below shows the clinical spectrum of the more common benign variant. Clinical differential diagnosis of benign and malign mesotheliomas is not clear. Complete surgical resection is the preferred treatment for both types and usually curative with the benign mesothelioma. The localised pleural variant is benign in most cases, and it is even less common, constituting only 10% of all mesotheliomas [1]. The importance of localised benign mesothelioma is that it is almost impossible to differentiate from a malignant neoplasm preoperatively and it may occasionally recur, sometimes with a malignant change.