Lipoblastoma - a Rare Parapharyngeal Mass in Childhood

Overview

Lipoblastoma is a rare benign tumour, affecting almost exclusively pediatric patients. It originates from the embryogenous adipose tissue of mainly the trunk and limbs, less frequently then from head and neck region. In parapharyngeal space this tumour is very rare.

Here a case of a 2-year-old girl, which developed a recurrent lesion 20 moths after the surgical removal of the primary parapharyngeal lipoblastoma, is presented. It is the opinion of the authors, that, in spite of greater proclivity to recurrent tumour growth, caused by the limited surgical access to the parapharyngeal space, a more invasive surgery with mandibulotomy should be avoided, for its potential postoperative complications are not adequate to the nature of the lipoblastoma, in which a spontantaneous regression is possible. As it was demonstrated, even the recurrent tumour can be removed without any iatrogenic trauma to the small patient.

Key words:
lipoblastoma, lipoblastomatosis.