Craniofacial fibrous dysplasia: A 10-case series

Fibrous dysplasia of bone is a rare sporadic benign congenital condition in which normal cancellous bone is replaced by fibro-osseous tissue with immature osteogenesis. Sarcomatous transformation is exceptional. Lesions may involve one bone (monostotic) or several (polyostotic). Fibrous dysplasia may be associated with café-au-lait skin macules and endocrinopathy in McCune-Albright syndrome, or with myxoma in Mazabraud's syndrome.

We report ten cases of patients followed up for craniofacial fibrous dysplasia in our center between 2010 and 2015.

Mean age was 43 years (range, 10-72 years). Clinical symptoms comprised headache (n=3) and sensorineural disorder: recurrent anterior uveitis (n=1), visual acuity loss, epiphora and vestibular syndrome (n=1), and hearing loss (n=1). All cases were monostotic. The sphenoid bone was most commonly involved (n=5), followed by the ethmoid (n=1), frontal (n=1), fronto-ethmoid (n=1), temporal (n=1) and fronto-ethmoido-sphenoid (n=1) bones. Five patients were treated with intravenous pamidronate, a bisphosphonate: evolution was favorable for 3 of them at 1-6 months after treatment initiation, with resolution of headache or vestibular syndrome; the other 2 patients were stable. Two patients were operated on.

Diagnosis of craniofacial fibrous dysplasia should be considered in case of headache, neuralgia, sensory disorder, functional disorder or infectious ENT complications. A medico-surgical approach is useful for these patients.