2016 Volume 41 Issue 1 Pages 51-55
Lipoma is a nonepithelial benign tumor composed of mature fat cells. The occurrence of lipoma in the head and neck region is about 2–8%. However, the occurrence of lipoma in the alveolar cleft region is rare. This report describes a case of lipoma in the alveolar cleft region. The patient was a nine-year-old male with unilateral cleft lip and palate. Cheiloplasty was operated at the age of 5 months and palatoplasty was operated at the age of 20 months. Panorama X-ray images taken at the age of nine years before the bone-grafting operation showed the alveolar cleft. Through CT, a low-density area was observed in the cleft alveolar region. It was diagnosed as unilateral alveolar cleft and tumor in the cleft region, thus resection of the tumor, alveolar plasty and bone grafting were performed. The pathological diagnosis was lipoma. The lipoma was successfully resected and the bone grafting operation was performed. The patient's progress remains fine 2 years after the operation.
