An Unusual Granular Cell Tumour of the Buttock and a Review of Granular Cell Tumours

Abstract

Granular cell tumours, first described by Abrikossoff in 1926, are known to occur in skin, connective tissue, breast, gastrointestinal and genital tracts. While they are rare, they are more common in people of African descent and show a slight female preponderance, usually presenting as solitary and painless masses. Less than 10% of occurrences are multiple, and fewer than 3% of tumours behave in a malignant fashion. The mean age, at presentation, is 40–60 years. We report a case of granular cell tumour in a young white male presenting with a painful soft tissue tumour in his buttock. The presentation is unusual because of the age, patient demographic, body site, and clinical presentation. The clinical and histological aspects are reviewed in the context of this clinical case and the associated literature.

Granular cell tumor

“…The diffuse positivity of the tumor cells with neuron-specific enolase and S100 confirmed the diagnosis and differentiated our cases from other tumors with granular cell changes such as xanthomas, granular cell changes in smooth muscle tumors, granular variant of dermatofibroma, and the rare granular squamous cell carcinoma. Affection of the buttocks seen in our second case has been reported to be rare [5]. Coinciding with a female predominance [4], two of our cases were females.…”

Presentation of a Case Report and Literature Review on Granular Cell Tumour of the Breast

“…Granular cell tumour has been reported to occur in the soft tissues of the head, neck and other regions of the body including the larynx [4], suprasellar space [5], nasal septum [6], oral mucosa [7], mediastinum [8], buttock [9], vulva [10], back [11], rectum [12], etc. Granular cell tumour of the breast is rare and only a few case series have been studied so far [2].…”

An update on cutaneous granular cell tumours for dermatologists and dermatopathologists

“…12 They are often larger and metastasize to the lung, lymph nodes and bone. Clinical features of a malignant GCT include: size > 50 mm, rapid growth, ulceration and tethering of adjacent structures 13,14 (Table 2).…”