|
|
1 |
This is a 52 year old female patient, with no previous history of interest, referred to our department for surgical assessment. She had presented, for four years, with a small tumour on the right side of her forehead, which had been slowly increasing in size. On examination, a hard, painless, non-mobile mass was palpable under normal-appearing skin. |
|
|
2 |
Plain X-ray and CT scan of the skull showed a right frontal intraosseous lesion with osteolytic features. Radiological differential diagnosis included metastases, myeloma and haemangioma. Systemic tumour screening studies (haemogram, haematological smear, tumour markers, proteinogram and cervico-thoracic-abdominal CT scan) were negative. A bone scan with HDP-Tc99M was performed, showing a rounded deposit in the area of the lesion. Percutaneous fine needle puncture-aspiration of the tumour was inconclusive for the diagnosis, as only haematic fragments were obtained. |
|
|
4 |
Finally, it was decided to operate on the patient on the basis of the clinical progression of the lesion, with its aesthetic implications, as well as to obtain a definitive histological diagnosis. During surgery, a bone-dependent tumour was identified, with multiple dilated vascular channels in its sinus, expanding the external table. To avoid manipulation of the lesion, it was decided to include it in a craniectomy specimen with a circumferential margin of 1 cm of apparently healthy bone. The resulting bone defect was reconstructed by means of a methylmethacrylate cranial plasty, which was fixed to the surrounding bone with titanium mini-plates. The postoperative period was uneventful. The definitive anatomopathological diagnosis was intraosseous cavernous haemangioma. |