Periosteal osteosarcoma of the mandible: case report and review of the literature.

PURPOSE

Periosteal osteosarcoma is an intermediate-grade chondroblastic osteosarcoma, accounting for less than 2% of all osteosarcomas and it occurs extremely rarely in the jaws. We present a rare case of mandibular periosteal osteosarcoma.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A 39-year-old man presented with a four months history of a firm swelling of the mental region. The clinical, radiologic, and histologic findings pointed to a diagnosis of periosteal osteosarcoma.

RESULTS

The patient underwent a partial mandibulectomy. After ten months the lesion recurred locally. We removed the tumor together with the residual right mandible, and the patient remained without evidences of local recurrence after 22 months.

CONCLUSIONS

Periosteal osteosarcoma may give rise to local recurrence and distant metatasis. It is important to differentiate the periosteal osteosarcoma from other types. Accurate diagnosis requires correlation of clinical, radiographic, and histologic features, and wide surgical margins are mandatory for successful therapy.