Intraoral Lipoma: A Case Report

Abstract

Lipomas are rare in oral and maxillofacial regions although they are the most common tumours of mesenchymal origin in human body. The etiology remains unclear. Various different theories explain the pathogenesis of this adipose tissue tumour and also different histological variants of oral lipoma have been given in literature. A case of intraoral lipoma occurring in mental region in a 77-year-old male is reported along with review of the literature. Wide surgical excision was performed and two-year followup showed excellent healing without any recurrence. Lipomas are benign soft tissue neoplasm of mature adipose tissue seen as a common entity in the head and neck region. Intraoral lipomas are a rare entity which may be noticed only during routine dental examinations. Most of them rarely cause pain, resulting in delay to seek treatment. It is mandatory for a clinician to diagnose intraoral lipomas using latest diagnostic methods and conservatively treat them without causing much discomfort.

Intraoral lipomas: Review of literature and report of two clinical cases

“…While intraoral lipomas are relatively uncommon (1,4,7,8,15,16), their clinical diagnosis is easy due to their yellowish color, and their usual location superficially near the mucosa (1). The differential diagnosis includes fibroma, dermoid cyst, minor salivary gland tumors, mucocele, hemangioma, lymphangioma, rhabdomyoma or neuroma (4,17) ( Table 3).…”

“…They are common in the head and neck region, but their appearance in the oral cavity is uncommon. Only 1-5% of the lesions are located in this area (3,4); representing 2.2% of all lipomas (3). The most common areas are the buccal mucosa, lips, tongue, palate,vestibule, floor of the mouth and retromolar area (5).…”

“…The most accepted treatment is surgical excision, but medical management has also been proposed (4,5). Recurrence is rare (4).…”

Intramuscular spindle cell lipoma/pleomorphic lipoma unusual site fore arm

“…Other sites are nose, cheek, forehead, chin, anterior scalp, lip and ear. [1][2] Also there are case reports of the same in tongue and oral cavity. [3][4] CD34 is a marker for hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells and its presence is physiologically detectable in the perivascular environment of many tissues of post-natal organisms.…”

Lipoma of mandibular buccal vestibule: a case with histopathological literature review

“…Trauma and chronic irritation have also been cited as triggers for the proliferation of fatty tissue into a benign tumour 9. Hereditary and chromosomal abnormalities including rearrangements of 12q, 13q and 6p chromosomes have also been cited in a few cases 10.…”