No abstract

Central haemangioma, a "great mimicker" which, fortunately, is a relatively rare condition, may pose a lethal risk for the patient. The diagnosis may become apparent only during biopsy or tooth extraction, which poses a risk of lethal exsanguination; therefore a correct diagnosis is desirable before any biopsy is undertaken. The clinician may not anticipate the severe haemorrhage because of vague clinical history, physical findings and ambiguous radiographic characteristics of the lesion. We report a case of central haemangioma of the mandible whose clinical and radiographic features were equivocal. In addition, an attempt is made to discuss all possible radiographic presentations of central haemangioma and consider differential diagnosis. This case is significant for the reason that it had diverse radiographic appearances in various areas of the lesion in different projections.

Cutaneous tuberculosis of the orofacial region is a rare condition and when it occurs, can cause confusion regarding the true nature of the lesion. This is compounded by the fact that neither mantoux test nor histopathology is confirmatory. In this report we discuss a case of lupus vulgaris with emphasis on the diagnostic approach to be followed by dental practitioners who come across a similar case.

No abstract

Carotid body tumors are rare neoplasms, which typically present as a slow growing, painless neck mass found along the anterior border of the sternocleidomastoid muscle. All borders were well-defined. It was non pulsatile, had no cranial nerve involvement. Neck glands were not enlarged. Her haematological and biochemical investigations did not reveal any abnormality. These tumors are generally benign but possess aggressive local growth potential. A 50 year female patient presented with a large (70 × 50 × 45 mm) sized swelling on the left side of the neck in the anterior triangle. CT with contrast revealed a hyper vascular lesion 5x4 cm at the carotid fork and not attached to the vessel (Shamblin type II).The operation was performed under general anaesthesia with endotracheal intubation. There were a lot of feeding vessels between the tumour mass and external and common carotid artery. The tumour was excised along the subadventitial plane. Histological examination of the tumor mass was done and it revealed typical features of nonsecreting paraganglioma. The patient recovered well from the effect of anaesthesia and there were no neurological deficit. Therefore, definitive treatment requires surgical resection. Paragangliomas (PGLs) are extra-adrenally located in 10% of cases. The authors describe a case of a patient with a carotid body tumor and review the most recent literature on this unusual topic.