Oral traumatic neuroma with mature ganglion cells: A case report and review of the literature

Abstract

Traumatic neuromas are characterized by the presence of pain, burning, or paresthesia, associated with a history of trauma, normally surgery, in the same site. In the oral cavity, the most commonly affected sites are the lip, tongue, and mental nerve area. Pressure on the suspected area usually provokes pain. They microscopically consist of a proliferation of nerve fascicles embedded in a background of collagen. We present a case of a 42-year-old Latin American female patient complaining of a painful solitary nodule erupting on the lingual surface of the mandibular body. Histopathological analysis showed a traumatic neuroma associated with mature ganglion cells, which is an extremely unusual finding. After complete removal of the lesion the symptoms disappeared. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of a unique lesion with unusual clinical and histopathological features reported in the English language literature.