Oral Lipoma Resembling Popeye's Pipe: A Case Report

Abstract

Lipomas are benign neoplasms of mesenchymal origin. Although they are frequently seen in other parts of the body, they are rare in the oral cavity. In the oral cavity, they most often develop from buccal mucosa. They tend to grow slowly, so they may remain asymptomatic for a long time and go unnoticed. Lipomas in the oral cavity may cause deterioration in chewing-speaking and esthetic problems over time, depending on the increase in their size. The most reliable imaging method for differential diagnosis is magnetic resonance imaging. Complete excision of the lipoma is essential for treatment. In this study, a case of an unusual oral lipoma, causing nutrition-speaking difficulties in a geriatric male patient is presented.

Keywords: buccal area; excision; geriatrics; lipoma; oral cavity.

Figure 1. Image of the mass at the time of first admission.

Figure 2. MRI images of the maxillofacial region.

In the coronal T2W image (a) the well-circumscribed mass lesion (asterisk) in the right buccal region is completely isointense to the subcutaneous fatty tissue (arrows). Axial fat-suppressed T2W image (b) demonstrates total signal loss in both the lesion (asterisk) and also subcutaneous fatty tissues (arrows) which is consistent with the mass’ lipomatous nature. Contrast-enhanced coronal fat-suppressed T1W image (c) shows that there isn’t any enhancement of the lipomatous mass except for its peripheral thin smooth capsule. Lipoma is diagnosed as per the findings. T2W: T2-weighted; T1W: T1-weighted

Figure 3. Image of the mass after excision.

Figure 4. Histopathological examination image of the lesion.

The image shows lipoma developing from mature adipose tissue, containing thin collagen bundles, with a thin capsule structure visible on the left (100x, hematoxylin and eosin).