Nasal chondromesenchymal hamartoma in an adolescent: a report of case and review of literature

ABSTRACT

Nasal chondromesenchymal hamartoma [NCMH] is an extremely uncommon primary benign cartilaginous growth of the nasal and paranasal sinuses. It has been reported almost exclusively in infancy. We report a NCMH in a 23-year-old patient who presented with anosmia, right gaze diplopia and proptosis. CT scan of paranasal sinuses revealed frontal sinus mass extending to the right orbit, ethmoid cells and nose. After an initial inconclusive incisional biopsy, the patient underwent a complete radical resection; and the defect was reconstructed with osteoplastic flap of frontal sinus. Histopathological examination confirmed NCMH, which, we believe, probably had been present and undetected for many years. This report greatly extends the age of NCMH, as part of the differential diagnosis of cartilaginous lesions of the nose and paranasal sinuses