Intraoral lipomas: Review of literature and report of two clinical cases

BACKGROUND: Lipomas are benign mesenchymal tumors composed of mature adipocytes. They are classified according to their histological pattern and their etiology remains unclear. Objectives: To present two cases and review the literature. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A search was conducted in the Medline / PubMed and Scielo data bases of the last 10 years (2004-2014) with the keywords “ intraoral lipoma OR oral cavity lipoma”. RESULTS: 46 articles with 95 cases (56 women and 39 men) were reviewed. The average age was found to be 52.28 years (52.28 ± 18.55); and most of them occurred between the 4th and 6th decade of life. Lipomas occur mostly in the buccal mucosa (n = 36, 37.9%), followed by the tongue (n = 23, 24.2%) and other locations (n = 36, 37.9%). The most common histologic pattern was simple lipomas (n = 40, 42%), followed by fibrolipomas (n = 18, 18.9%) and other types (n = 37, 39.1%). The average tumor size was 19.77 ± 16.26mm. CONCLUSIONS: Lipomas are a relatively rare finding in the oral cavity. Surgical excision is the treatment of choice and recurrence is not expected. Key words:Benign oral tumor, oral lipoma, lipoma, oral cavity.