Ancient schwannoma of neck masquedring as sarcoma

Abstract

Ancient schwannomas are rare benign encapsulated tumors of long standing duration. These tumors are usually solitary and may grow to a large size before detection of notable degenerative changes. The term “ancient schwannoma” is used to describe a schwannoma that has undergone changes such as relative loss of Antoni Type A tissue, perivascular hyalinization, calcification, cystic necrosis, hemorrhage and the presence of degenerative nuclear changes that may be misinterpreted as sarcomatous change. We report a case of ancient schwannoma in the left side neck.