Elastofibroma dorsi: diagnosis and treatment

Elastofibroma dorsi is a rare, benign, soft tumor located at the inferior pole of the scapula. We report a series of 8 patients (5 women, 3 men), with a mean age of 67 years (range, 44-80 years), and discuss the clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment. Six lesions were unilateral, and 2 were bilateral. All patients were referred from other clinics with a large, unknown tumor of the back. Two patients presented with symptoms of pain and clunking of the scapula on shoulder abduction. Five underwent simple excision of the tumor. Preoperative diagnosis by magnetic resonance imaging showed agreement with the histopathologic diagnosis. Three patients had the postoperative complication of hematoma formation. Presumptive diagnosis is possible by careful clinical examination and magnetic resonance imaging. Because postoperative hematoma is unexpectedly frequent and symptomatic, radical resection should be avoided, and only excisional biopsy is necessary for histopathologic diagnosis.