Integrated therapeutic approach to giant solitary fibrous tumor of the pleura: report of a case and review of the literature.

The fibrous tumors of the pleura are rare primary tumors, accounting for 5% of malignant pleural neoplasms, which generally originate from sub-mesothelial mesenchymal tissue of the visceral pleura. These tumours generally exhibit clinical benign behavior although 12% of solitary fibrous tumors can be malignant and have worse outcomes. These tumors are considered "giant" when the lesion > 15 cm.

Cyclic stretch induces vascular smooth muscle cell alignment via NO signaling.

We investigated the effects of cyclic stretch on vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) alignment and potential overlap of signaling modalities with stretch-induced proliferation. VSMC were subjected to graded stretch (1 Hz at 100-124% of resting length) for 48 h. Graded stretch resulted in graded VSMC alignment from a minimum of completely random orientation to a maximum of ~80-85 degrees to the stretch vector.