Solitary fibrous tumor of the thoracic spinal cord

A 63-year-old woman presented with a rare case of primary solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) occurring in the extramedullary thoracic spinal cord. T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging showed the tumor as a mildly hypointense area with homogeneous enhancement by gadolinium. T2-weighted MR imaging showed a hypointense mass with peritumoral edema. The tumor arose from one of the posterior spinal roots, with no attachment to the dura. The tumor was clearly circumscribed from the surrounding cord tissue and easily removed. Histological examination showed the tumor predominantly consisted of spindle cells separated by abundant collagen matrix fibers. Tumor cells were strongly positive for vimentin and CD34, but negative for glial fibrillary acidic protein, S-100 protein, epithelial membrane antigen, myelin basic protein, and keratin. SFT should be considered in the differential diagnosis of spindle cell central nervous system neoplasms, although SFT is extremely rare in the spinal cord.