Lingual alveolar soft part sarcoma treated only by conservative resection

SummaryAlveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS) is a rare disease and there is no generally accepted treatment guideline yet. We report a case of lingual ASPS in a child who was treated only by conservative resection without further adjuvant treatment modalities. A 3-year-old girl was diagnosed as ASPS of the left dorsolateral portion of the mobile tongue, in which transoral partial glossectomy was performed subsequently. The tumor appeared to be well encapsulated and the resection could be done in a more limited way rather than conventional glossectomy in tongue cancer. No adjuvant treatments were added following surgery. Neither metastasis nor recurrence was detected 32 months afterwards. The lingual ASPS exhibits patterns distinct from ASPS in other anatomical locations, such as extremity. Local or distant metastasis is relatively rare and the clinical course is often better than other sites. Definitive treatment is usually possible even with functional resection as a single treatment modality. The pertinent literature is reviewed.