Intraoral exophytic lesion in an adolescent: a case report of myoepithelioma with unique clinical presentation

Abstract

Myoepithelioma is an infrequent benign tumor of the salivary glands, characterized by its composition of myoepithelial cells which can show different shapes and be arranged in various patterns with a well-circumscribed or encapsulated growth. This tumor commonly presents in adults as an asymptomatic swelling of the parotid gland, very rarely in minor salivary glands of children or adolescents, and even rarer in the buccal mucosa, with only six cases reported to date and only one of them presented in an adolescent. We present an additional case of myoepithelioma in the buccal mucosa of a 16-year-old male, with a novel clinical presentation as a non-submucosal exophytic mass. Immunohistochemically, neoplastic cells were positive for CK, S100, p63, and GFAP. The tumour was treated surgically, and the patient showed satisfactory evolution at 1 year of follow-up. The clinical and histopathological characteristics of the reported cases are discussed.