Hemangioma occurs frequently in the head and neck region.
Most hemangiomas are not true tumors but represent a vascular malformation.
A case of erectile hemangioma of the masseter muscle with two phleboliths is presented.
This case was 38 year-old woman who complained of painless swelling in the left mandibular angle following contraction of the masseter muscle. However this swelling become smaller than 3-4 seconds in spite of continuous contraction. Surface skin color is normal. One oval radiopaque shadow was found in this region by X-ray examination. The external angiogram showed no pooling of contrast medium and hypervascularization.
Surgical dissection was performed with an extra-oral method under general anesthesia. The postoperative histopathological diagnosis was cavernous hemangioma. This tumor had two phleboliths. These were analyzed with an infrared spectrometry and observed scanning electron-microscopically after acid etching (0.2 N HCl 20 sec).
17 months after surgery, there was no indication of new tumor growth in this region.
