Vol.98No.9contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 98 No. 9 September 2005
Three Cases of Parotid Lipoma
Kazuharu Yamazaki, Hisashi Otsuka, Yoko Odashima,
Hiroaki Sato and Hiroki Oikawa
(Iwate Medical University)
Lipoma is a common neoplasm in the head and neck region, but it rarely occurs in the parotid gland, constituting about one percent of all salivary gland tumors. We encountered three cases of parotid lipoma in our hospital over the last ten years, which originated from superficial (2 cases) and deep (one case) lobes. Tumors were completely excised in all three cases, and none of them has recurred for 3-9 years to date. Lipoma is easily diagnosed on preoperative imaging study including CT and MRI and by its typical pathological findings. However, pathological diagnosis was difficult in a 49-year-old woman, with atrophic change of the parotid gland due to aging, accompanied by hyperplasia of the adipocyte, which mimicked lipomatosis.
Key words : parotid tumor, lipoma, lipomatosis