The differential diagnosis of fetal facial tumors: A case report of a neonatal granular cell tumor (GCT)

Cranio-cervico-facial tumors are rare. While ultrasound is the gold-standard method for diagnosing these anomalies, three-dimensional ultrasound and prenatal magnetic resonance imaging are complementary tools for reaching a precise diagnosis. Hemangiomas, meningoceles, proboscis lateralis, skin appendages and other fetal tumors are the main differential diagnoses. The prenatally assumed diagnosis of these malformations can change postnatally, with the ready identifcation of additional clinical features. We present a case of prenatally suspected proboscis lateralis. This diagnosis was revised postnatally to a facial hemangioma. The tumor did not regress with β-blocker therapy for 5 months, and so a biopsy was then performed, which showed it was a granular cell tumor (GCT). This was later successfully excised, with clear margins. This case is important because there has been only one reported case of neonatal GCT, and because it shows that even with technologically advanced prenatal diagnostic methods, reaching the correct diagnosis can still be challenging.