Pleomorphic lipoma of the oral cavity. Report of a case

Pleomorphic lipoma (PL) is a rare benign tumor mainly located in the upper back, upper shoulders, and back of the neck in elderly men. More rarely it is located in the head and neck region and in the oral cavity. The differential diagnosis should be made with sclerosing liposarcoma and well-differentiated liposarcoma. A 59-year-old male patient was referred for the presence of a lesion involving the marginal and adherent gingiva of teeth # 5; this lesion extended into the vestibular mucosa. The lesion had a 2 cm diameter, showed no tenderness, had a hard-parenchymatous consistency, was mobile on the underlying tissues and was covered by normal appearing mucosa. Under local anesthesia, the lesion was completely removed. A free gingival graft from the palate was used to cover the defect. Microscopically, it was possible to observe mature adipocytes, spindle cells and rare ''floret-like'' cells. Lipoblasts and mitoses were absent. The definitive pathologic diagnosis was pleomorphic lipoma. No recurrences were present after a 5 years follow-up. Local excision is adequate for PL and the tumor does not recur.