Intra-osseous squamous cell carcinoma of the maxilla: probably arisen from non-odontogenic epithelium.

This paper reports a case of intra-osseous squamous cell carcinoma (IOSC) of the maxilla. The patient was a 52-year-old male with a chief complaint of swelling of his hard palate. The lesion was initially diagnosed as an incisive canal cyst from the clinical and radiographic findings, but histological examination revealed the lesion to be a poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. The review of the literature yielded only a few previous cases of IOSC of the maxilla, which were probably of odontogenic origin. The present maxillary IOSC is thought to be non-odontogenic in origin.