Malignant perivascular epithelioid cell tumour of the fibula: a report and a short review of bone perivascular epithelioid cell tumour

Abstract

Perivascular epithelioid cell tumour (PEComa) is a term applied to a family of mesenchymal tumours composed of varying proportions of spindle and epithelioid cell components associated with HMB-45 expression. PEComa rarely arises in the soft tissue, visceral organs, skin and bone. This report details an instance when a purely epithelioid PEComa arose from the right fibula of a 52-year-old Chinese woman without features of tuberous sclerosis complex. The excision specimen disclosed an epithelioid tumour with a nested pattern associated with areas of nuclear pleomorphism, mitotic activity, necrosis and vascular invasion in addition to HMB-45 expression on immunohistochemistry. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this represents the first case of a histologically malignant PEComa of the bone. A short review of primary bone PEComas and potential problems in diagnosis is presented.