Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 20, 2026
Stromal Vascular Fraction-enriched Fat Grafting for the Treatment of Symptomatic End-neuromata
Published on: November 23, 2017
Rare nerve lesions of non-nerve sheath origin: a 17-year retrospective series
Tobin Strom1, Bette K Kleinschmidt-Demasters, Andrew Donson
1Department of Pathology, The University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA.
Context:
Peripheral nerve masses are frequently encountered in surgical pathology practice. However, once a peripheral nerve mass is determined not to be a nerve sheath neoplasm, differential diagnostic considerations drop off sharply.
Objective:
To review our experience with surgically resected nerve masses.
Design:
Retrospective search of pathology database. Rare neoplasms were studied by cytogenetic analysis or gene microarray.
Results:
Four hundred fifty-eight cases were identified. After elimination of common lesions (mostly nerve sheath tumors), 37 cases (8%) remained, almost all of which were of non-nerve sheath origin: for example, hemangioma, metastatic neuroendocrine pancreatic carcinoma, meningiomas invading nerve fascicles, and primary extrarenal rhabdoid tumor and Ewing sarcoma of nerve. The latter showed rearrangement of the EWSR1 locus (22q12). The gene expression pattern of an undifferentiated sarcoma, presenting as ropelike nerve enlargement, clustered with malignant peripheral nerve sheath neoplasms but not other sarcomas or neuroepithelial tumors.
Conclusions:
Diverse benign and malignant conditions can affect peripheral nerve.
