Parietal pleura lipoma: A rare intrathoracic tumor

Lipoma is a common benign tumor of soft tissues in adults. An intrathoracic location, particularly in the parietal pleura, is rare. We report two cases of pleural parietal lipoma with a review of literature. A preoperative diagnosis was established histologically by fine-needle aspiration in the first case and radiologically by computed tomography scan in the second. Both patients underwent surgical excision via thoracotomy and video-assisted thoracic surgery. Pathology examination confirmed the diagnosis of lipoma. The authors emphasize the necessity of surgical resection because of preoperative diagnostic difficulty of discerning lipoma from well-differentiated liposarcoma. © 2011 The Japanese Association for Thoracic Surgery.