title: Intramuscular myxoma of the masseter muscle. A case report.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Myxomas are benign, locally infiltrative, connective tissue tumors that rarely occur in the head and neck region. The purpose of this paper is to describe a very rare case of an intramuscular myxoma of the masseter muscle.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 74-year-old man presented with a 2-year history of a painless swelling over his left preauricular region. Computed tomography scan showed an intramasseter well-defined soft tissue mass. After a preauricular approach, a circumscribed solid gelatinous tumor was excised with thin margins including adjacent muscle tissue.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Histopathology revealed an intramuscular myxoma, completely resected. The patient made an uneventful recovery, and there were no signs of recurrence 26 months after surgery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Intramuscular myxoma of the masseter is an extremely rare entity, but it must be considered in the differential diagnosis of the swellings of the preauricular region.
authors.affiliation: Evangelismos General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Papadogeorgakis
authors.forename: Vassilis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Petsinis
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nikitakis
authors.forename: Lampros
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Goutzanis
authors.forename: Constantinos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alexandridis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008406:Masseter Muscle / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D019042:Muscle Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed