title: Rheumatoid nodule in the lower lip of a patient with rheumatoid arthritis: a novel case report and review of literature.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Rheumatoid nodules are a well-characterized common extra-articular manifestation of rheumatoid arthritis. However, the occurrence of a rheumatoid nodule in the oral mucosa is extremely rare.
  
  
  METHODS
  We present the case of a rheumatoid nodule in the lower lip, which rarely presents with variations in the clinical manifestation, that occurred in a 48-year-old female patient with rheumatoid arthritis. The nodule was totally excised under the clinical diagnosis of either a fibroma or salivary gland lesion.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On histopathologic examination, within the deep mucosa, a necrobiotic nodule surrounded by elongated histiocytic cells with a focal palisaded arrangement. The lesion was diagnosed postoperatively as a rheumatoid nodule from the histopathologic and clinical findings.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Few studies have been performed of oral rheumatoid lesions; however, a review of the published data showed that this is the first case of a rheumatoid nodule in the lower lip of a patient with rheumatoid arthritis.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Student, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa, Japan. Electronic address: k-kato@kanazawa-med.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Koichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Natsuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Segami
authors.affiliation: Graduate Student, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Hanako
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Minato
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008046:Lip / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012218:Rheumatoid Nodule / Q000175:diagnosis*