Oral focal mucinosis: review of the literature and two case reports

Abstract

Oral focal mucinosis is a rare condition, clinically characterized by an asymptomatic swelling, without distinct, specific features, which occurs predominantly in adults of the female gender. Its clinical aspect leads to various differential diagnoses, and final diagnosis is only possible by means of histopathological exam, in which a well-delimited myxomatous area containing mucinous material is observed. In the present study, a review of the English-language literature about the lesion, was conducted, covering the period from 1974 to March 2015. We report two new cases, thereby contributing to the knowledge and differential diagnosis of this entity.

Oral focal mucinosis: A multi‐institutional study and literature review

“…The term oral focal mucinosis was first introduced in 1974 by Tomich et al 1 to describe tumors whose histopathological appearance was similar to the cutaneous focal mucinosis. Since then, approximately 100 well‐documented cases of OFM have been reported in the literature 1‐5,7‐37 . To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the largest series of OFM cases reported in the literature.…”

“…Of these, 60 duplicates were eliminated, and the criteria for inclusion and exclusion were applied to 196 references. A total of 36 articles reporting 100 cases of OFM were selected 1‐5,7‐37 . Most papers were single case reports or case series that originated from 13 different countries: Canada (one case), the United States (34 cases), Venezuela (one case), Brazil (18 cases), Italy (three cases), Sweden (one case), Turkey (one case), Iran (one case), Israel (one case), Japan (five cases), South Korea (one case), India (16 cases), and Australia (16 cases).…”

“…Since the first description by Tomich et al in 1974, approximately 100 cases of OFM have been reported in the English‐language literature, 1‐5,7‐37 most of them as single case reports or small series. Herein, we report the clinicopathological characteristics of 21 new cases of OFM, the largest series reported in the literature.…”

“…These lesions are not associated with mucinosis‐related systemic diseases 6 . Clinically, oral lesions often present as a small (<1 cm) submucosal, single, pink, and slow‐growing asymptomatic nodule 7,8 . The gingiva and palate are the most affected sites 2,8 .…”

“…Clinically, oral lesions often present as a small (<1 cm) submucosal, single, pink, and slow‐growing asymptomatic nodule 7,8 . The gingiva and palate are the most affected sites 2,8 . Other reported sites include buccal mucosa, 9,10 tongue, 1,7,11 retromolar trigone, 11 and lips 7 …”