CASE REPORT   

Il Giornale Italiano di Radiologia Medica 2018 Settembre-Ottobre;5(5):670-5

DOI: 10.23736/S2283-8376.18.00110-9

Copyright © 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Cranial fasciitis in an infant

Anna MOLINARI ¹, Patrizia RUSSO ¹, Ilaria MARAUCCI ², Narciso MARIANI ³, Matteo VITALI ⁴, Giuseppe P. ROLANDI ⁵ ✉

¹ SC Radiologia, ASO Alessandria, Alessandria, Italia; ² SC Neuropsichiatria infantile ASO Alessandria, Alessandria, Italia; ³ SC Anatomia Patologia ASO Alessandria, Alessandria, Italia; ⁴ SC Neurochirurgia ASO Alessandria, Alessandria, Italia; ⁵ SSD Neuroradiologia ASO Alessandria, Alessandria, Italia

We report the case of a 6-month-old boy who referred to our Institute for a large asymptomatic frontal cranial mass. Ultrasound study, CT scan and MRI revealed an extra-intracranial extra-axial mass. The lesion was totally removed by the neurosurgical team. Histological exam was consistent for cranial fasciitis. This unusual diagnosis lead us to review the Literature: in this paper we describe the more common localizations of cranial fasciitis and some variants which present a fully intracranial growth. Cranial fasciitis is benign rapidly growing fibroblastic tumor, belonging to the group of nodular fasciitis, and has a predilection for the head and neck region of young children. This tumor is highly cellular and often shows striking erosion of bone often misdiagnosed as a sarcoma. Surgery is the best treatment. There is no tendency for local recurrence. As the cranial fasciitis is a rare entity, the diagnosis could be difficult and underestimated. Although radiological exams are useful, histological exams lead the diagnosis.

KEY WORDS: Fasciitis - Skull - Tomography, X-ray computed - Magnetic resonance imaging - Infant