Lipoblastoma of the neck: A rare cause of respiratory problems in children

Lipoblastomatous tumours are rare, and they occur primarily in children younger than 3 years of age. They are benign and may be divided in lipoblastomas and lipoblastomatosis. A case with cervical lipoblastoma causing respiratory difficulty is reported, and a clinical characterisation of patients with lipoblastomatous tumours in the neck is presented. A 6-year-old boy with complains of stridorous respiration and significant reduction in physical capacity was referred to the ENT Department, Odense University Hospital, Denmark. He was treated with total surgical resection of a soft and slowly growing tumour in the left side of the neck, extending from the base of the skull to the upper part of the mediastinum. The histological examination showed a lipoblastoma. After surgery all symptoms disappeared, and the patient was without any operative sequelae. Including the actual case, a review of English literature resulted in the identification of 37 patients with cervical lipoblastoma or lipoblastomatosis. However, in most cases the information was sparse, and only 13 patients were eligible for an analysis of basic clinical and demographic data. The median age was 25 months (range: 7-75 months), and the median tumour size 9 cm (range: 3-18 cm). No difference in sex distribution was found. Lipoblastomas (85%) seemed more frequent than lipoblastomatosis (15%). Stridorous respiration was present in 31%. It is concluded that a considerable part of lipoblastomatous tumours in the neck are combined with respiratory difficulties (31%), and that complete but gentle surgical treatment in most cases will restore normal physiological conditions.