Ancient schwannoma in posterior triangle of neck: a rare tumor case report and literature review

Abstract

Ancient Schwannoma is a rare variant of Schwannomas, a type of benign nerve sheath tumor arising from Schwann cells, hence giving it its name Schwannoma. The term ancient represents the tumor undergoing degenerative changes such as calcification, hyalinization, hemorrhage, cystic degeneration and necrosis and characteristically the loss of Antoni type A tissue. This case report describes a patient having an ancient schwannoma and the management done. Detailed management and findings starting from history and extending to USG, FNAC, CT scan, MRI and excisional biopsy have been described with positive findings supporting the diagnosis like presence of degenerative material in FNAC, peripheral enhancement on CT with the classical Target sign also visible on MRI. The following case reports helps to show how to connect the dots of different findings that may start from the patient’s basic history to eventual confirmation by biopsy.