Solitary intraosseous neurofibroma of the mandible. Apropos of a case.

Neurofibroma is a benign neoplasm derived from peripheral nerves. Most of these are associated with Neurofibromatosis but may also occur as solitary lesions. When found on the head and neck they are generally located in the soft tissue. Intraosseous location is very rare. The following report describes a case of an intraosseous neurofibroma located in the left mandibular ramus of a 14-year-old child. The patient did not had clinical evidence of the lesion and it was found on a routine radiographic examination. Surgical excision of the lesion was scheduled and the sample was submitted to histopathological study. Representative sample cuts were studied using conventional techniques of hematoxylin-eosin and immunohistochemistry using primary antibodies anti S-100 protein, vimentin, and neuroespecific enolase. A review of clinical, radiographic, histologic and immunohistochemical features of other cases of intraosseuos neurofibromas located in the jaws together with the possible differential diagnosis of the lesion are discussed. Our case corresponds to a intraosseous neurofibroma of controveltial diagnosis because even though it presents typical neurofibroma histomorphological features it has immunophenotype different from usual.