A case of radiation-induced sternal malignant fibrous histiocytoma treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgical resection

BACKGROUND: Primary sternal malignant fibrous histiyocytoma (MFH) is highly rare. Effective treatment modality is surgical resection with wide margins. However, to date, the effects of radiotherapy or chemotherapy has not been clearly defined. CASE PRESENTATION: Herein, we aimed to present a 50-year old female patient with MFH occurred in the radiotherapy field who had had surgical procedure for breast cancer 19 years ago and had followed by radiotherapy. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy was applied for MFH due to cardiac and mediastinal vascular invasion. Wide resection was carried out for the mass after having been decreased in size following neoadjuvant chemotherapy. CONCLUSION: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy was an effective method. In planning the surgical resection, the size of the tumor before chemotherapy should be considered as the initial size and surgical margins should be determined accordingly.