Solitary fibrous tumor in neurosurgical practice

Solitary fibrous tumors most often affect the pleura, but examples are increasingly being reported in a wide variety of sites including the central nervous system. This tumor shows characteristic expression of CD34, which facilitates histopathologic differentiation of this lesion from other more common and better recognized spindle-cell tumors such as fibrous meningioma, hemangiopericytoma, or nerve sheath tumors. In this paper, we review current information on cranial and paracranial solitary fibrous tumors and emphasize the need for clinical recognition of this lesion as a distinct entity.