Liposarcoma of the neck: a clinicopathologic study of 4 cases.

A clinicopathological study of 4 patients with liposarcoma in the neck treated surgically is presented. Three of the liposarcomas were located in the supraclavicular region, two to the right one to the left, and one appeared to the left in the back of the neck. Liposarcoma rarely involves the head and neck region. A survey is given of the few reported liposarcomas in this region. Two of the tumors in the present series were well differentiated, one of which recurred repeatedly. The other two tumors were round-cell and pleomorphic in type, both of which recurred. At the end of follow-up 11 and 9 years, the two patients with well-differentiated liposarcomas were alive. The other two patients had died after 5 and 4 years from intercurrent disease and metastatic spread, respectively. The histopathological basis for the diagnosis, distinguishing features of intramuscular (infiltrating) lipoma, hibernoma and spindle cell lipoma, as well as the treatment, are discussed.