Intraoral granular cell tumors: clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical study.

OBJECTIVE

To describe a case series of intraoral granular cell tumors in terms of clinical, histologic, and immunohistochemical features.

METHOD AND MATERIALS: Nine cases of intraoral granular cell tumors were described in terms of clinical features (patient sex and age, anatomical location, size, type, time to clinical progression, and lesion treatment), histologic features (necrosis, spindling, vesicular nuclei with large nucleoli, increased mitotic activity, high nuclear to cytoplasmic ratio, and pleomorphism) and immunohistochemical features using S-100, CD68, neurofilament protein, desmin, and galectin-1.

RESULTS

Studied patients were mostly women with a mean age of 32 years. Lesions arose as solitary nodules on the tongue, with size ranging from 0.1 to 3.0 cm. Mean time to evolution was 21.83 months. All cases were treated by surgical excision. Two cases were classified as atypical and seven as benign. All cases presented immunoreactivity for S-100, CD68, and galectin-1, and there was no reactivity for desmin and neurofilament protein.

CONCLUSION

General practitioners should consider granular cell tumors during the differential diagnosis of nodular lesions on the tongue. Results suggest that histologic criteria may be used to distinguish between benign and atypical intraoral granular cell tumors. Finally, analysis of the clinical profile and the use of immunohistochemical markers may facilitate diagnosis and clarify the histogenesis of these lesions.