Catania VD, Manzoni C, Novello M, Lauriola L, Coli A. Unusual presentation of angiomyomatous hamartoma in an eight-month-old infant: case report and literature review.
BMC Pediatr 2012;
12:172. [PMID:
23130960 PMCID:
PMC3507769 DOI:
10.1186/1471-2431-12-172]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2012] [Accepted: 10/26/2012] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Evaluation of palpable neck masses may be a diagnostic problem in pediatric patients, with differential diagnosis including congenital, inflammatory, tumoral and traumatic lesions. Ultrasonography is usually a satisfactory method to make a correct pre-operative evaluation of neck masses, although diagnosis is often challenging for the surgeon and the radiologist and sometimes only possible after a histopathological examination of the resected lesion.
CASE PRESENTATION
We report an 8-month-old patient with a cervical, anterior midline mass. Ultrasonographic images showed features suggesting a partly cystic lesion, with a preoperative suspect of thyroglossal duct cyst. Histological examination, performed after surgical removal of the mass, led to a diagnosis of lymph node angiomyomatous hamartoma (AH).
CONCLUSIONS
AH, a rarely occurring benign lymph node lesion, has been reported in the neck lateral region only twice. This case, presenting as a palpable neck midline mass, is the first reported case occurring in infancy. Although rare, AH should be included in the differential diagnosis of head and neck masses.
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