A case of solitary intraosseous neurofibroma of the mandible

—Required the differential diagnosis of cystic lesion—

Abstract

We present a difficult-to-diagnose case of solitary intraosseous neurofibroma of the right mandible. A 23-year-old Japanese male was referred to our hospital with a chief complaint of pain in the right mandibular region. The radiographic findings showed a radiolucent lesion in the periapex of the lower right second and third molars. We made a clinical diagnosis of mandibular cyst and performed enucleation of the lesion under general anesthesia. The enucleated lesion was solid and the inferior alveolar nerve was not found in the postoperative cavity.
Histopathologically, most of the lesion was occupied by inflammatory tissue, but a tumor was found in one part. The tumor consisted of a proliferation of densely packed spindle cells and some collagenous tissue with irregular arrangement. Immunohistochemical study showed that the nerve fibers scattered within the tumor were positive for S-100 protein. As a result, the final diagnosis was solitary intraosseous neurofibroma of the mandible.