Subgemmal Neurogenous Plaque: A Clinical and Pathologic Review With Comparison to Common Head and Neck Neural Tumors

Objective: In humans, subgemmal neurogenous plaques (SNPs) are normally found associated with taste buds. On histology, SNP may be mistaken for a neural neoplasm. The objective of this study was to correctly differentiate SNP among head and neck neural lesions and provide clinical and pathologic inf...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical pathology (Thousand Oaks, Ventura County, Calif.) Ventura County, Calif.), 2019, Vol.12, p.2632010X19830180-2632010X19830180
Main Authors: Alnajar, Hussein, O’Toole, Thomas R, Lin, Diana Murro, Al-Khudari, Samer, Gattuso, Paolo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biopsy
Cancer
Head & neck cancer
Histology
Larynx
Medical records
Mouth
Pain
Patients
Short Report
Tumors
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objective: In humans, subgemmal neurogenous plaques (SNPs) are normally found associated with taste buds. On histology, SNP may be mistaken for a neural neoplasm. The objective of this study was to correctly differentiate SNP among head and neck neural lesions and provide clinical and pathologic information that may assist in avoiding misdiagnosis. To our knowledge, this is the first study to provide an estimate of the degree of overdiagnoses of mucosal lesions in the head and neck mucosal area. Study design: Retrospective pathology and chart review. Methods: All cases of head and neck mucosal neural lesions only in the mucosa of the oral cavity, oropharynx, or larynx from the pathology archives of a single urban tertiary care center between 3/2000 and 6/2017 were obtained. The pathologic and clinical data were reviewed. Results: Twenty-six cases were identified: 9 neuromas, 9 neurofibromas, 2 ganglioneuromas and 6 cases of hyperplastic subepithelial nerve bundles. The mean greatest dimension of SNPs was 2.0 mm (range 1-3 mm) and most were subjacent to taste buds (13 cases). The 20 cases of SNP involved 15 women and 5 men. Their median age was 60 years (range 30-85 years). Clinical data were available in 19 cases. The most common presenting complaint was of a painless lesion (8 patients). Conclusions: This review confirmed the rarity of true neural neoplasms in the head and neck mucosa and estimates the risk of their over diagnosis given the possible diagnostic confusion with SNP.
ISSN:2632-010X
2632-010X
DOI:10.1177/2632010X19830180