Lipoblastic tumours of somatic soft tissues: a xerographic evaluation of 67 cases

The role of xeroradiography for the diagnosis and the clinical evaluation of lipoblastic tumours of somatic soft tissues was investigated in 67 patients. Xeroradiography improved the visibility of soft tissues over film radiography in 20 out of the 23 cases in which both examinations were performed. The xeroradiographic characters of a lipoblastic tumour depend on its nature, thus irregular and infiltrative masses are usually liposarcomas, while regular and rounded nodes are usually pure or mixed lipomas. Moreover, pure lipomas are always radiolucent and liposarcomas are always radiopaque. Xeroradiography is regarded as a promising first technique in the diagnosis of lipoblastic tumours, before more complex investigations, like computed tomography (CT) scanning or arteriography, are undertaken.