A rare tumor of the parapharyngeal space: angiomyxolipoma

• Published in: The Journal of craniofacial surgery Vol. 24; no. 5; p. 1724
• Main Authors: Topak, Murat, Develioglu, Omer Necati, Celebi, Saban, Caglar, Erdem, Kimiloglu, Elife, Kulekci, Mehmet
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.09.2013
• Subjects: Adolescent; Biopsy, Needle; Diagnosis, Differential; Humans; Lipoma - diagnosis; Lipoma - pathology; Lipoma - surgery; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Myxoma - diagnosis; Myxoma - pathology; Myxoma - surgery; Pharyngeal Neoplasms - diagnosis; Pharyngeal Neoplasms - pathology; Pharyngeal Neoplasms - surgery
• ISSN: 1536-3732
• DOI: 10.1097/SCS.0b013e318292c7f1

Parapharyngeal space tumors are uncommon, most are salivary gland tumors (50%), and they are often pleomorphic adenomas. Neurogenic tumors are the second most common primary tumors of all neoplasms in the parapharyngeal space (30%). Angiomyxolipoma is a very rare form of lipoma. Up until now, only 12 cases located on different sides of the body were reported. Presented here is a case report of a patient with an angiomyxolipoma of the parapharyngeal space. A 17-year-old boy had a slowly growing, painless mass on the left side of the neck. During the oropharyngeal examination, medial displacement of the left tonsilla palatina was observed. Magnetic resonance imaging findings were of a 6 × 5.5 × 3-cm "dumbbell"-shaped parapharyngeal mass. A fine needle aspiration of the mass showed no specific histopathology. The patient underwent a transparotid-transcervical approach for the excision of the tumoral mass under general anesthesia. Although an angiomyxolipoma is a rare form of lipoma, it is a pathology that should be kept in mind for the differential diagnosis of parapharyngeal tumors.