Agressive mandibular tumors in pediatric patients. Report of 4 cases

Resumen

Children rarely experience tumors in the face. Nevertheless,
tissue damage caused by these tumors can modify facial growth and development causing physical, esthetic and psychological alterations. The histopathologiical origin of these lesions is variable, but their local behavior is frequently aggressive, oftentimes not matching their “benign” histological appearance. In order to reach accurate diagnosis it is important to be familiar with radiographic and clinical characteristics exhibited by all lesions, adequately take a biopsy, as well as count with histopathological operators with experience in the recognition of these tumors, since they ultimately are responsible for the treatment to be prescribed. Lesion resection is the treatment´s objective, to restore facial esthetics and function, and, whenever possible, favor growth of any affected anatomical structures. This is not easy to achieve in government hospitals with limited resources. There is yet a lot to be achieved in the field of favoring bone growth and later rehabilitate patient’s occlusal conditions. In the present article we present four cases of tumors inpediatric patients. Tumors were of different histopathological lineageand low frequency, but all were locally aggressive. These tumorswere treated at the Hospital de Alta Especialidad 134, Mexican Institute of Social Security, Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico.