CASE REPORT   

Chirurgia 2005 February;18(1):39-42

Copyright © 2005 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Benign chondroblastoma of the parotid region. Case report

Tincani A. J., Altemani A., Menezes Valério J. B., Del Negro A., Araújo P. P. C., Martins A. S.

Benign chondroblastoma is a very rare bone neoplasm localized especially in the head and neck and accounting for less than 1% of all bone tumors. It affects more frequently the long bones of young patients, at their epiphyseal zones, mainly the lower extremities. A case of benign chondroblastoma of the temporal bone in a young female patient, misdiagnosed as a benign parotid tumor, is presented. The patient first presented at our institute with a 12-month complaint of a mass, hard, painful and fixed, at her left parotid region. The main symptoms related to this pathology, such as hearing loss, otalgia, tinnitus, headache, and others, were not present in this case. Since 2 fine needle aspiration biopsies were inconclusive, a superficial parotidectomy with frozen biopsy at the operating room was proposed. A hard, light-gray, fixed tumor was found in the deep parotid lobe, in close proximity with the mid portion of the zygomatic arc. The frozen biopsy was suggestive of carcinoma, thus the patient underwent a total parotidectomy with resection of the zygomatic arc and sacrifice of the temporal branch of the facial nerve, which was involved by the tumor. The clinical course of chondroblastoma, the radiological studies performed, the surgical planning and the patient's outcome are discussed.