Pediatric Aggressive Benign Mandibular Tumors: Clinical Features and Management

Aggressive benign mandibular tumors are uncommon in the pediatric population, and there is few publishing in the literature specifically dealing with them. Aggressive tumors can be defined based on known biologic behavior and/or histologic type and/or clinical characteristics.

To review the clinical features and management of lower jaw pediatric aggressive benign tumor.

Medical records review of pediatric patients presented with aggressive benign mandibular tumors to the Maxillofacial and Plastic Surgery Department, University of Alexandria, Egypt between 2011 and 2019.

Fifty-eight patients were included in this study, aged between 2 and 16 years (average = 11.8). Ameloblastoma was the commonest pathological diagnosis (n = 18) followed by central giant cell granuloma (n = 11) and juvenile ossifying fibroma (n = 10). Patients with central giant cell granuloma were treated by en-block resection (n = 4) or curettage after interferon alfa injection (n = 7). All other benign tumors were treated by en-block resection. The length of follow-up ranged from 1 to 8 years. Successful reconstruction was accomplished in 45 patients (88.2%).

Aggressive lesion should be treated in an aggressive manner and immediate reconstruction is advocated. However, pharmacotherapy combined with enucleation is a more conservative approach for management of aggressive central giant cell tumors.