title: Giant vascular hamartoma of the tongue.
abstract: We present one of the largest lingual hamartomas of the tongue base to have been reported, along with a review of the current literature and a description of the management of this case, as well as insights into the histopathology of the lesion. A 21-year-old woman presented with a mass on the base of her tongue, extending to the vallecula. The mass was found to be over 4 cm and enhancing on computed tomography. The size, vascularity, and site of the lesion merited its excision using the suprahyoid pharyngotomy approach. Histopathology confirmed the mass to be a vascular hamartoma. In reviewing the literature, we encountered 61 reported cases of lingual hamartomas, which are described with a number of pathological variants and sites of occurrence and with different methods of surgical excision. The size, vascularity, and site of the lesion we found merited a different approach from the conventional transoral approach that was used in all of the previous reports. Also, our study agrees with current world literature that histopathological examination plays an important role in the final diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ear, Nose and Throat, and Head and Neck Surgery Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, 110029 New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Ashish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vashishth
authors.affiliation: Department of Ear, Nose and Throat, and Head and Neck Surgery Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, 110029 New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Neeraj Narayan
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Mathur
authors.affiliation: Department of Ear, Nose and Throat, and Head and Neck Surgery Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, 110029 New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Santosha Ram
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Choudhary
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Central Institue of Orthopaedics Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, 110029 New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Geetika
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Khanna
keywords: hamartomas; lingual; tongue; vascular