Author(s)

Yoshihiro Morita, Chisato Kawakita, Misako Taya, Keiko Yuzaki, Takahisa Kotani, Takaki Iwagami, Kazuyo Kobayashi, Nobuo Morita

Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Seichokai Hannan City Hospital, Hannan, Japan.
Department of Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery, NS Medical & Healthcare Service General Incorporation Foundation, Wakayama, Japan.

Schwannomas originating from the hypoglossal nerve are extremely rare neoplasms. Hypoglossal schwannomas usually occur between the third and fifth decades of life, with no sex predilection, commonly presenting as a painless, slow-growing, and lateral neck mass. The best treatment is complete surgical excision with preservation of the neural pathway, if possible. In fact, since these tumors are almost always benign, a conservative surgical approach is emphasized by most authors. We report a case of a large schwannoma of hypoglossal nerve origin in the upper neck in a 31-year-old male. Magnetic resonance imaging of the area demonstrated a 43 × 39 × 36 mm well-circumscribed mass with high and nonhomogeneous signal intensity on the right side of the upper neck. The lesion was successfully treated by extirpation, with no recurrence. The extracranial hypoglossal nerve sheath was as the origin of this tumor because the patient experienced remarkable disturbance of tongue motility after surgery.

Hypoglossal Nerve, Benign Tumors, Schwannoma, Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Morita, Y. , Kawakita, C. , Taya, M. , Yuzaki, K. , Kotani, T. , Iwagami, T. , Kobayashi, K. and Morita, N. (2014) Schwannoma of Hypoglossal Nerve Origin in the Upper Neck: Case Report and Review of the Literature. Open Journal of Stomatology, 4, 418-423. doi: 10.4236/ojst.2014.48056.