Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jul 26, 2022; 10(21): 7429-7437
Published online Jul 26, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i21.7429
Extranasopharyngeal angiofibroma in children: A case report
Yang-Yan Yan, Can Lai, Lei Wu, Yong Fu
Yang-Yan Yan, Yong Fu, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, the Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Hangzhou 310052, Zhejiang Province, China
Can Lai, Department of Radiology, the Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Hangzhou 310052, Zhejiang Province, China
Lei Wu, Department of Endoscopy Center, the Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, Hangzhou 310052, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Yan YY and Fu Y contributed equally to this work; Yan YY, Lai C, Wu L and Fu Y participated the treatment of disease. Yan YY and Fu Y analyzed the case and wrote the manuscript; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from individual participants.
Conflict-of-interest statement: This paper has not been published elsewhere in whole or in part. All authors have read and approved the content, and agree to submit it for consideration for publication in your journal. There are no conflict of interest related to the manuscript.
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Corresponding author: Yong Fu, Doctor, PhD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Surgeon, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, the Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, No. Binsheng Road 3333, Hangzhou 310052, Zhejiang Province, China. 1307022@zju.edu.cn
Received: September 24, 2021
Peer-review started: September 24, 2021
First decision: December 2, 2021
Revised: December 11, 2021
Accepted: June 3, 2022
Article in press: June 3, 2022
Published online: July 26, 2022
Processing time: 289 Days and 18.4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Sporadic cases of extranasopharyngeal angiofibroma in children, especially preschool children, have been reported in the literature.

CASE SUMMARY

We present a case of extranasopharyngeal angiofibroma in a 4-year-old boy. The presenting symptoms, imaging findings, treatment, histological appearance, and follow-up data are described in detail. For this patient, we performed embolization on two occasions, and then, resected the tumor completely. During the treatment, the patient developed a soft-palate perforation due to aseptic necrosis. However, the healing ability was good, and the perforation healed spontaneously. We additionally reviewed all pediatric cases of extranasopharyngeal angiofibroma published up to 30 June 2020 in the PubMed, Baidu Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. We identified 45 pediatric patients [average (10.98 ± 4.86), boys 39 (86.7%)]. The highest proportion of cases occurred in adolescence [22 (48.9%)]. The top three sites of occurrence of extranasopharyngeal angiofibroma in children were the maxillary sinus, nasal septum, and inferior turbinate.

CONCLUSION

Extranasopharyngeal angiofibromas can occur throughout childhood, and predominantly present with nasal obstruction and spontaneous rhinorrhagia.

Keywords: Extranasopharyngeal angiofibroma, Inferior turbinate, Children, Embolization, Perforation, Case report

Core Tip: Extranasopharyngeal angiofibromas can occur throughout childhood, but predominantly occur during adolescence. They present with similar symptoms. In our case, the clinical presentation was unusual due to the patient’s young age, the large tumor size, and the requirement of two embolization treatments. Soft palate perforation developed as a complication, but healed spontaneously during follow-up. Additionally, we performed a literature review to summarize the clinical characteristics of this rare tumor.