A Case of Congenital Epulis of the Newborn

ABSTRACT

Congenital epulis of the newborn refers to a very rare gingival tumor that occurs along the anterior alveolar ridge in newborn infants. We report a neonate with 3*2*1.5cm mass protruding from the mouth. This was a pinky, red solid pedunculated mass, attached to the maxillar left canine region of the alveolus at birth. The tumor's large size partially obliterated the oral cavity and caused oral feeding difficulty but did not cause respiratory problems. We described the postnatal MR imaging findings, electromicroscopic, histochemical and immunohistochemical studies of this tumor in order to search for the histogenesis of the tumor. In our case, histochemically, individual tumor cells contained numerous PAS positive cytoplasmic granules. Immunohistochemically, strong and diffuse cytoplasmic staining for vimentin and NSE was observed. Staining with S-100 protein, cytokeratin, desmin, CEA, factor VIII-related antigen, lysozyme, EMA were negative. After total excision of the lesion in our case, we had no complication or recurrence either early or late(up to one year).