Lingual hamartoma in an infant: CT and MR imaging

Abstract

Lingual hamartoma is a rare tongue mass, primarily diagnosed in childhood. In most cases in the literature, the masses were surgically removed without preoperative imaging. There are only 3 cases reported in the clinical literature that describe preoperative imaging findings. We report the clinical and imaging findings in an infant with lingual hamartoma and review the literature.

Fig 1.

Preoperative photograph of the infant in the operating room after anesthesia induction and nasotracheal intubation, with manual traction applied to the patient’s tongue, shows a lobulated midline tongue base mass.

Fig 2.

Axial postcontrast CT scan shows a lobulated soft-tissue midline posterior tongue mass with minimal heterogeneous enhancement (short arrows). On this axial image, the mass is at the same level as the normal-appearing palatine tonsils (long arrows).

Fig 3.

A, Sagittal T1-weighted image demonstrates a mildly hypointense well-defined mass arising from the posterior aspect of the tongue abutting the inferior surface of the uvula. B, T2-weighted image demonstrates a central area of hyperintensity with irregular margins and hypointense periphery.