Soft tissue chondroma of the cheek

Soft tissue chondromas are rare benign tumours unrelated to bone that arise primarily in the distal extremities. Lesions in the soft tissues of the oral cavity are extremely rare although several chondromatous lesions have been reported in the tongue. A case is presented of a chondroma arising in the buccal mucosa. It was composed of a lobulated mass of myxoid tissue showing central areas of chondroid differentiation. Immunocytochemistry confirmed the lesion to be mesenchymal and not epithelial in origin. In the differential diagnosis it is important to exclude chondromatous change in a pleomorphic adenoma and also the possibility of a metastasis from an osseous chondrosarcoma.