A Tumor at the Base of the Tongue

A Case of an Infantile Lingual Leiomyomatous Hamartoma

“…The differential for a pediatric tongue lesion is broad, encompassing macroglossia, polyps, cysts (e.g., enteric duplication cysts, thyroglossal duct cysts, and vallecular cysts), vascular lesions (e.g., arteriovenous malformation and lymphatic malformation), or neoplasia (e.g., sarcoma, lymphoma, and schwannoma) [ 3 , 4 ]. Per our literature review to date, there are a total of 28 cases of lingual leiomyomatous hamartomas, or smooth muscle-predominant hamartomas, reported in the literature, with 19 of them being on the dorsum of the tongue, as in our present case ( Table 1 ) [ 5 – 25 ]. Other locations of these hamartomatous lesions in the oral cavity include the anterior maxilla and the hard palate [ 24 , 27 ].…”

“…In the pediatric population, lingual hamartomas make up approximately 13% of tongue lesions and typically follow cystic, polypoid, vascular, and neoplastic lesions in the differential diagnosis [ 2 – 4 ]. Per our literature review, there have been 29 reported cases of lingual leiomyomatous hamartomas, which reportedly occur predominantly on the dorsal tongue and tongue base [ 5 – 25 ]. In this present case, we describe the evaluation and subsequent treatment of an asymptomatic dorsal midline lingual leiomyomatous hamartoma in a 4-week-old female.…”