Intramuscular myxoma of the masseter muscle. A case report

Purpose Myxomas are benign, locally infiltrative, connective tissue tumors that rarely occur in the head and neck region. The purpose of this paper is to describe a very rare case of an intramuscular myxoma of the masseter muscle. Methods A 74-year-old man presented with a 2-year history of a painless swelling over his left preauricular region. Computed tomography scan showed an intramasseter well-defined soft tissue mass. After a preauricular approach, a circumscribed solid gelatinous tumor was excised with thin margins including adjacent muscle tissue. Results Histopathology revealed an intramuscular myxoma, completely resected. The patient made an uneventful recovery, and there were no signs of recurrence 26 months after surgery. Conclusions Intramuscular myxoma of the masseter is an extremely rare entity, but it must be considered in the differential diagnosis of the swellings of the preauricular region.