Endobronchial metastasis from malignant Schwannoma

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Abstract
Malignant tumours of the peripheral nerves are quite rare. Most commonly these tumours arise in the extremities. The histogenesis of this tumour is controversial. It is considered to originate either from Schwann or perineural cells. Harkin and Reed (1972) regarded the Schwann cells as the proliferating elements in Schwannoma. The natural history of the malignant nerve sheath tumours is ill defined and the choice of therapy is uncertain in many cases. Aggressiveness of the tumour is manifested by local recurrence and metastasis is rare. Ghosh et al (1973), in a review of 115 cases of malignant Schwannoma, found no case with regional lymph node metastasis, but the patients who died of disseminated disease showed involvement of the lungs. Endobronchial metastasis is reported to occur in less than 5% of autopsies of patients dying with extrathoracic neoplasms (King & Castleman, 1943). A variety of tumours have been associated with endobronchial metastases. These include renal, gastrointestinal, ovarian, uter...