Granular cell tumor in black patients

A 12-year review of granular cell tumors at Howard University Hospital is reported. Sixty-one cases were studied (56 patients). A female preponderance was clearly established and multicentricity of lesions constituted a higher percentage than previously reported in other series. Malignant transformation was not found. Electron microscopic studies tended to support the Schwann cell origin theory for the tumor but no conclusion could be drawn as to whether or not the lesion is neoplastic, degenerative, or metabolic in nature.