Malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the maxilla

Report of a came and a review of the literature

Abstract

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma rarely occurs in the jaws. A case of malignant fibrous histiocytoma originated from the maxillary sinus is reported.
The patient was a 25-year-old man who had had a pain in the left cheek for four months before his first visit to our hospital. Radiographic findings revealed wide destruction of the left maxilla. The biopsy taken from the maxilla showed histopathologic findings of malignant fibrous histiocytoma. Accordingly he underwent surgery of partial resection of the left maxilla. The tumor was observed to have developed extensively outside the maxillary sinus. After the surgery, the patient received anticancer chemotherapy both intra-arterially and intra-venously. Pre-and post-operative radiotherapy was also given to him in total of 70 Gy by a linear accelerator.
The patient showed various somatic paralysis with gradual tumor progression and died approximately one year and seven months after the first visit to out hospital. Autopsy revealed tumor recurrence at the back of the upper part of the left maxillary sinus and the tumor had invaded the pons. No distant metastasis was found.
It can be noted that this was a very peculiar case of malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the maxilla expired without any distant metastasis.