Abstract:
Introduction. Lipomatous soft-tissue tumours are frequently seen neoplasm, characterised as soft, painless,
encapsulated masses. In the Oral and Maxillofacial region these tumours account for 1-4.4%. Of interest is
the lack of complaints for this type of tumour which is favourable for the tumour's growth with delayed
addressing the specialist. Common sites are: parotid region, submandibular, tongue. Diagnosing a lipoma
doesn’t present difficulties because of classical clinical presentation, also the treatment is ordinary
consisting in tumour excision.
Case presentation. Patient AN, women, 42 years was diagnosed with solitary lipoma localised in the lateral
cervical left region. The diagnosis was established after the clinical and paraclinical examination:
ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging. The treatment performed was a typical excisional procedure
consisting of future incision marking, after the incision the dissection of the tissues were performed and the
tumour was exposed with the excision of lipoma. The closing was performed by layered suturing the tissues
and a drain was placed. No complication was noted during the rehabilitation period.
Discussion. Patients suffering from lipoma tumours localised in the oral and maxillofacial region present
interest for the surgeons because of the complex morphofunctional and esthetic characteristics (complex
vascularization and innervation, high esthetic demands from patients). The tumours are slow growing with
predominantly superficial localization (subdermal), but cases of deep localization were also reported
(intermuscular, subfascial). Another specificity is the tumour dimension, which varies from small (<3cm),
medium (4-6cm) and big sized (7-10cm). Tumours don’t grow more than 10cm, but rare cases are reported
of giant lipoma that are bigger than 10cm. The treatment tactics depend on the size and lipoma localization,
in cases where it has a small size and superficial location the treatment is ordinary unless it has large
proportions and deep location.
Conclusion. Lipomatous tumours have an easy diagnosis and treatment with few adverse consequences for
patients. Because the rate of growth is low the treatment can be postponed for a period of time, but it was
demonstrated that morbidity is directly proportional with dimension and tumour depth.
