Two cases of neurilemmoma of the tongue

Neurilemmomas of the tongue are uncommon. When they do occur; treatment is simple. However; diagnosis is invariably delayed because of the vagueness of symptoms. We encountered 2 cases of this unusual tumor within weeks of each other In 1 of these cases, the definitive diagnosis was delayed because of the atypical clinical picture-that is, an abscess in the tongue that had caused respiratory distress. We describe our management of these 2 cases, and we discuss what has been published in the literature regarding the presentation, diagnosis, histopathology, treatment, and prognosis for patients with glossal neurilemmoma.