Juvenile systemic hyalinosis--a rare cause of gingival hypertrophy: a case report

A 5-year-old boy was referred because of gross gingival hypertrophy which caused severe feeding difficulties in addition to obvious aesthetic concern. The patient also suffered from frequent upper respiratory tract infections and diarrhoea. In addition, he had pigmentation on bony prominences of his hands, elbows, knees and ankles, cutaneous nodules behind his ear and granulomatous tissue adjacent to his nose. Excess gingival tissue was removed under general anaesthesia. Histological features suggested a diagnosis of juvenile hyaline fibromatosis, which is considered to represent the same underlying pathological condition as infantile systemic hyalinosis. It is suggested that systemic hyalinosis should be preceded by 'infantile' or 'juvenile' depending on the clinical presentation.