Liposarcoma of the tongue: case report and review of the literature.

Liposarcoma is the most common soft-tissue malignancy in adults, but the appearance of a liposarcoma in the head and neck region is distinctly unusual. Intraoral liposarcomas represent a particularly interesting subset of this tumor in that (1) they are exceedingly rare and (2) affected patients tend to have a better prognosis than do patients with a similar lesion located elsewhere in the head and neck. An understanding of the histologic subtypes and corresponding clinical behavior of liposarcomas will assist physicians in appropriately managing these patients. Most of these tumors can be effectively treated with conservative surgery. We report the rare case of a well-differentiated liposarcoma arising in the tongue of a 55-year-old man. We also discuss the typical pathologic findings in these malignancies and review the diagnosis, associated controversies, management, and prognosis.