[Tumors affecting the temporomandibular joint - a literature review]

Benign and malign tumors can affect the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) as any other articulation. Nevertheless, TMJ tumors are rare and mostly benign. Their clinical expression is varied including symptomatology similar to TMJ dysfunctional disorders, otologic or neurologic pathologies. In some cases, they remain totally asymptomatic. Hence, diagnosis is difficult since the symptomatology can be misleading with TMJ dysfunctional disorders or otologic disorders wrongly diagnosed. There is thus frequently a long delay between symptoms onset and diagnosis. The great variety of TMJ lesions explains the wide range of possible treatment modalities, mostly based on surgery. We provide here a review of the lesions originating from the TMJ. Tumoral or cystic mandibular lesion affecting the TMJ through local extension will not be discussed. Osteoma, osteoid osteoma, osteoblastoma, chondroma, osteochondroma, chondroblastoma, tenosynovial giant cell tumors, giant cell lesions, non-ossifying fibroma, hemangioma, lipoma or Langerhans cell histiocytosis are all possible diagnosis among the benign tumors found in the TMJ. Pseudotumors include synovial chondromatosis and aneurysmal bone cyst. Finally, malign tumors of the TMJ include mainly sarcomas (osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, synovial sarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, and fibrosarcoma), but also multiple myeloma and secondary metastases. We will review the clinical, radiological and histological aspects of each of these lesions. The treatment and the recurrence risk will also be discussed.