Extraskeletal osteogenic sarcoma occurring in the tongue

Extraosseous osteosarcoma in the neck

BACKGROUND

Extraosseous osteosarcoma arising in the head and neck region is an exceptional finding, with a few isolated cases informed in the literature. We report a new case of a large high-grade extraosseous osteosarcoma located in the neck.

CASE PRESENTATION

A 74 year-old woman with a tumor on the right side of the neck was treated by complete surgical resection. The histopathological diagnosis was osteoblastic extraosseous osteosarcoma. PET-CT scan disclosed no evidence of disease in other areas. Patient received adjuvant radiotherapy and after 3 months of follow-up tumor activity was detected in the cavernous sinus and the patient died of disease one month later.

CONCLUSION

Extraosseous osteosarcoma in head and neck region is exceptional, and incisional biopsy is the only method to establish a diagnosis and the one to differentiate it from other bone-producing soft tissue tumors. Surgery is the gold standard for treatment of extraosseous osteosarcoma.

Primary osteogenic sarcoma of the tongue

A 56-year-old man presented with the difficulty of swallowing and respiratory distress due to a large tumour arising from the tongue and occupying the entire oral cavity. Histological examination revealed it to be an extraskeletal osteogenic sarcoma. The tumour was excised. After six weeks, he came back with massive local recurrence and bleeding from the tumour, but died despite chemotherapy. Review of the literature revealed only four other such cases of this rare tumour. A brief review of these four cases is also made.