title: Malignant parapharyngeal schwannoma (neurilemmoma).
abstract: A malignant parapharyngeal neurilemmoma developed in a 45-year-old woman who had had a benign solitary neurilemmoma removed from the same area nine years previously. Incomplete excision was achieved through a mandibulotomy approach. Malignant schwannoma usually is associated with neurofibromatosis and has a poor prognosis, spreading along the nerve of origin or by blood stream. Small localized tumors should be treated aggressively by surgery. The possibility that a previously benign schwannoma underwent malignant transformation must be considered.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology*; D009442:Neurilemmoma / Q000473:pathology*; D010307:Parotid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D010610:Pharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*