Lingual schwannoma involving the posterior lateral border of the tongue in a young individual: case report.

A schwannoma, also called neurilemmoma, is a benign, encapsulated, slow growing tumor arising from the neural sheath's Schwann cells of the peripheral, cranial or autonomic nerves. The etiology is unknown, there is no gender preference and the tumors occur most commonly between the ages of 20 and 50 years. Approximately 25-48% of these tumors occur in the head and neck region, with only 1% occurring in the mouth. The current case reports a schwannoma of the tongue, found in a 12 year-old boy. The lesion was present for 6 months. The clinical examination revealed a 1.5x1.0 cm, sessile, rubbery, non-tender non-ulcerated mass on the right posterior lateral border of the tongue. An excisional biopsy was performed under local anesthesia. The histological sections showed a circumscribed submucosal nodule composed of spindle cells with thin wavy nuclei arranged as typical Antoni A (with Verocay bodies) and Antoni B areas. Nuclear palisading distribution (typical of a schwannoma) was readily identifiable. The patient was recurrence free after one year.