Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Correspondence address. University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, P. For commercial re-use, please contact journals. Neurofibroma of the soft palate is an unusual tumor and probably only two cases have been reported in English literature previously. Solitary isolated neurofibroma of the soft palate not associated with von Recklinghausen's disease is even more infrequent.
To the best of our knowledge, this case represents the third reported in English literature. Complete surgical excision was achieved after tracheostomy due to envisaged difficulty in intubation.
We present a year-old man with an uncommon soft palatal neurogenic tumor. The exact cause of solitary neurofibroma remains unknown. It has been postulated that solitary neurofibroma is hyperplastic hamartomatous malformations rather than a neoplastic disease [ 1 ]. Neurofibroma is an uncommon benign neoplasm which originates from nerves that is composed of Schwann cells, perineural cells and fibroblasts. Soft palatal neurofibromas are rare and present with slowly growing painless mass [ 2 ].
Neurofibroma is considered to be one of the most common neurogenic tumor but an uncommon intraoral neoplasm [ 4 ]. Peak age of presentation is said to be third decade of life; however, its occurrence between 10 months and 70 years of age has been reported.
Debilitating or immunocompromising diseases are not known predisposing factors [ 6 ] and sex predilection is contradictory [ 5 ]. Intra-oral neurofibromas may present as sessile nodule or pedunculated progressive but slow growing lesion. Often painless but may be painful due to pressure effects. Commonly seen on the tongue, may occur at any site like the palate soft or hard , cheek mucosa, floor of the mouth [ 7 ] and in the mandible intraosseous location has been described [ 8 ].
