Atypical angiofibroma in a patient with compromised general health: A case report

INTRODUCTION: The nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (NA) is a benign tumor that originates from the pterygopalatine fossa and extends to the adjacent anatomical structures and affects frequently young individuals. The basic treatment for NA is surgical resection, but in some cases the tumor is surgically inaccessible. CASE PRESENTATION: We describe the case of a 45-year-old male with respiratory difficulty after the appearance of a soft palate lesion. The clinical appearance of NA was not specific. DISCUSSION: There are still discussions about the best therapeutic strategy and controversies about performing incisional biopsy. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a NA in an adult patient in which the general health conditions prevented the therapeutic approach, besides the extension of the lesion and its complications. CONCLUSION: Our case shows that NA may reach high proportions and its involvement in older patients should be considered. In this report, we showed the limitation of the therapeutic strategy for advanced cases of NA.