Solitary infantile myofibroma compromising the airway

A Case Report of Solitary, Intraosseous, Adult-Onset Myofibroma of the Mandible

“…They should be differentiated from fibromatosis which occurs commonly in the first decade. Fibromatosis occur in the shoulder (22%), chest and back (17%), thigh (13%) and mesentry (10%) [8], they can be present in some uncommon areas in the head and neck like superficial scalp [12], the cervical area causing brachial plexus palsy [14], in the oropharynx compromising airway [6] and even in the orbit [15]. The term Fibromatosis [4] refers to a group of benign soft tissue tumors which have certain characteristics in common, including absence of cytologic and absence of clinical malignant features, a histology consistent with proliferation of well-differentiated fibroblasts, an infiltrative growth pattern, and aggressive clinical behavior with frequent local recurrence.…”

Upper airway distress due to an oropharyngeal infantile myofibroma

“…Complete surgical excision is the treatment of choice for myofibromas (Eze et al, 2004) but some authors believe that the treatment can consist of an excisional biopsy or simple excision, with local recurrence reported in 7e31% of lesions treated by excision (Beck et al, 1999). Spontaneous regression of these lesions has been described, but in our patient we could not wait to operate because respiratory distress.…”

“…Two of them were located in the subglottic region and as they could not be completely removed through microlaryngoscopy and recurred (Tsui and Loré, 1976;O'Connell et al, 1989). The third case was described by Eze et al (2004), located in the base of the tongue, complete excision was not possible either. In our case, the tumour was located in the parapharyngeal space and we were able to perform a complete surgical excision through a transoral approach.…”

“…Infantile myofibroma is an uncommon fibrous tumour of infancy (Eze et al, 2004). In 1954, Stout introduced the term "congenital generalized fibromatosis", which later gave way to the term "infantile myofibromatosis" (Stout, 1954).…”

“…Most of cases occur in subcutaneous head and neck tissues (Chung and Enzinger, 1981), though they are relatively uncommon in the oropharyngeal cavity (Azevedo et al, 2008). Infantile myofibroma is an extremely uncommon cause of child airway obstruction, with one neonatal case reported by Eze et al (2004) which presented a rapidly growing oropharyngeal mass arising from the left parapharyngeal wall and filling the hypopharynx.…”