CASE REPORT   

European Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery 2020 August;4(2):62-5

DOI: 10.23736/S2532-3466.19.00191-7

Copyright © 2019 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Ancient schwannoma of the submandibular region: a tumor in the wide spectrum of the cystic lesions of the head and neck

Corrado TORO ¹ ✉, Giuseppe BROGGI ², Paola COSTA ³, Giada M. VECCHIO ², Gaetano MAGRO ²

¹ Maxillofacial Surgery Unit, Clinica del Mediterraneo Private Hospital, Ragusa, Italy; ² Section of Anatomic Pathology, G.F. Ingrassia Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences and Advanced Technologies, Vittorio Emanuele Polyclinic and University Hospital, University of Catania, Catania, Italy; ³ Private practitioner, Catania, Italy

Schwannomas are benign soft tissue tumors, arising from Schwann cells, which may occur at any anatomic site, including salivary glands. Extensive multilocular cystic degeneration, imparting schwannoma a multilocular cystic appearance, is extremely rare in long-standing or traumatized lesions which are also called “ancient schwannomas”. We herein present a rare case of a multilocular cystic ancient schwannoma of the submandibular region, which preoperatively was interpreted as a solid-cystic mass of the submandibular gland. The possibility that ancient schwannoma of the head and neck region may undergo extensive cystic changes is emphasized and the differential diagnosis with other cystic lesions is provided.

KEY WORDS: Neurilemmoma; Odontogenic cysts; Submandibular gland