Pseudosarcomatous fasciitis in children

Abstract

HE ACCOUNTS of the uncommon mesen-T chymal tumors in children now in process of publication by the writer and his associates would not be complete without recording the occurrence in children of the strange tumor-like lesion that was called by the descriptive term "subcutaneous pseudosarcomatous fibromatosis (fasciitis)" by Konwaler et al.4 who first published a description of it. T h e term "subcutaneous" should be dropped, because the lesion is not always subcutaneous. I t has been observed in voluntary muscles, in the female mammary gland, in the parotid gland, and in the trachea. In the interests of brevity, "fibromatosis" also can be dispensed with, and the term "pseudosarcomatous fasciitis" used by Culberson and Enterline1 seems best suited because it emphasizes the 2 important features of the lesion, namely, that it simulates the appearance of a sarcoma although it is not malignant and that usually it shows some inflammatory stigmata.