title: Peripheral facial palsy, the only presentation of a primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the skull base.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Peripheral facial palsy is rarely caused by primary neoplasms, which are mostly constituted of tumors of the central nervous system, head and neck, and leukemia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 2-month-old male infant presented with asymmetric facial expression for 3 weeks. Physical examination revealed suspicious findings of right peripheral facial palsy. Computed tomography of the temporal bone revealed a suspicious bone tumor centered in the right petrous bone involving surrounding bones with extension into the middle ear cavity and inner ear. Subtotal resection of the tumor was performed due to crucial structures adjacent the mass. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry of the resected tumor was consistent with primitive neuroectodermal tumor.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We report a rare case of a primitive neuroectodermal tumor located at the skull base presenting with only peripheral facial palsy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: jy8318@nate.com.
authors.forename: Hyung Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: geltbc@hanmail.net.
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: freegana@naver.com.
authors.forename: Eun Young
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Joo
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Inha University, Incheon, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: nskey@inha.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Eun Young
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: ysped@inha.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Young Se
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kwon
keywords: Facial palsy; Primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET); Skull base neoplasm