Malignant ameloblastoma of the maxilla: Report of a case and review of the literature

Ameloblastoma of the maxilla is rare, even rarer is the malignant variety of the tumor. The World Health Organization defines a malignant ameloblastoma as “A neoplasm in which the features of an ameloblastoma are shown by the primary growth in the jaws and by any metastatic growth.” By thus taking m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJapanese Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Vol. 36; no. 5; pp. 1389 - 1396
Main Authors YAMADA, Tetsuo, KITAMURA, Yutaka, YAMAGISHI, Mayumi, KAGE, Toshitaka, CHINO, Takehiro, NAKAMURA, Chihito, HASEGAWA, Hiromasa, KAWAKAMI, Toshiyuki
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Japanese Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons 1990
Subjects
ameloblastic carcinoma
cellular atypia
malignant ameloblastoma
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Summary:Ameloblastoma of the maxilla is rare, even rarer is the malignant variety of the tumor. The World Health Organization defines a malignant ameloblastoma as “A neoplasm in which the features of an ameloblastoma are shown by the primary growth in the jaws and by any metastatic growth.” By thus taking metastasis as the principle criteria for diagnosis, this definition excludes such histological considerations as the presence of less-differentiated areas within the tumor. We experienced the case of malignant ameloblastoma in the maxilla of a 68-year-old man. On clinical examination, metastasis was suspected, but could not be established conclusively. A biopsy showed, however, the features of an ameloblastoma having some lessdifferentiated areas. On this basis, we diagnosed the tumor as malignant ameloblastoma, despite the WHO definition. This report describes the clinical course of the case, reviews the Japanese literature concerning this type of tumor, and discusses possible new diagnostic criteria.
ISSN:0021-5163
2186-1579
DOI:10.5794/jjoms.36.1389