Soft Tissue Chondroma of the Oral Cavity: An Extremely Rare Tumour Localized on the Hard Palate

Chondromas are benign cartilaginous tumors usually localized within the tubular bones of the extremities. Soft tissue chondromas (STCs) are rare and only few cases have been reported in the oral cavity. The present case documents the exceptional finding of a 12-year-standing STC of the hard palate of a 63-year-old man. The tumor measured approximately 6？cm in its larger size and it was radically excised through the use of a quantic resonance molecular (QRM) lancet. No recurrence was observed during 1-year follow-up. A concise review of the relevant literature is included in the present paper. 1. Introduction Soft tissues chondromas (STCs) are rare, benign tumors occurring in extraosseous and extrasynovial locations. By definition, these tumours are not attached to bone, intra-articular synovium, or periosteum [1]. STCs are usually diagnosed within the soft tissues of the hands and feet, the fingers being frequently affected [1, 2]. Other localizations include the dura, larynx, skin, and fallopian tube [1, 3–6]. STCs rarely occur in the oral cavity [7]. Subsites where these tumours have more frequently been detected include the tongue, the cheek mucosa, both hard and soft palate, the edentulous ridge, and the masticatory space [7–14]. Oral STCs are apparently more common in the third and fourth decades [7–14]. From the clinical point of view, these neoplasms usually present as nonsymptomatic, slow-growing, and well-defined nodules expanding into the surrounding tissues [1, 15]. STCs are predominantly composed of adult type hyaline cartilage, devoid of other differentiated elements, except osseous, fibrous, and/or myxoid stroma [1]. With specific regard to oral STCs, the tongue is the most common site of occurrence. Sera et al. described an elastic, semicircular nodule with a diameter of approximately 5？mm localized on the dorsum of the tongue. The authors also reported the presence of other 45 cases in the literature of fibrochondroma of the tongue [8]. Onodera et al. reported one of the 5 cases in the literature of STCs of the cheek and de Riu et al. described a case of a STC of the masticatory space [9, 14]. This lesion was diagnosed as a result of an incidental report of a radiopaque mass localized in the temporomandibular joint seen on a standard X-ray of the cervical spine [14]. To the best of our knowledge, only five cases of STC of the palate have been reported in the literature, one of these being associated with cleft palate [16–20]. No reliable theories have been put forward to clarify the etiology and pathogenesis of oral STCs even though an