[Liposarcoma of the pleural cavity; report of a case].

A 43-year-old-woman who had sever anterior chest pain visited our hospital on April 3, 2000. A well-defined abnormal shadow was seen in the middle and lower field of the right lung on chest X-ray. Computed tomography showed a large fat density mass in the right pleural cavity with a septum enhanced by contrast medium. Percutaneous needle biopsy revealed lipoma or liposarcoma. Complete resection could be done with combined resection of right lung, lpericardium, parietal pleura and diaphragm. Final histologic diagnosis was well differentiated liposarcoma. There are few reports of liposarcoma arising in the thoracic cavity, we present our case and review the 23 cases reported from the Japanese literatures.