Intramuscular hemangioma in the zygomaticus muscle: A rare case report presentation and diagnosis

INTRODUCTION: intramuscular hemangioma (IMH) is a relatively rare benign vascular tumor of the skeletal muscles. It shows less than 1 % of all soft tissue hemangiomas. In the head and neck area, it occurs usually in the masseter muscle followed by temporalis and sternocleidomastoid muscles. PRESENTATION OF CASE: we present a case of 25-year-old male patient with a chief complaint of slowly growing facial swelling in the left zygomatic area. Clinical, imaging and histopathological evaluation lead to the diagnosis of intramuscular hemangioma in the zygomaticus major muscle. DISCUSSION: IMH in the zygomaticus muscle is very rare; hence, the clinical diagnosis of IMH is challenging. Different diagnostic procedures can be used such as CT and MRI. In addition, the ideal therapy for esthetic disfiguring IMH in the head are is the complete surgical excision of the lesion. Through the review of literature and to our knowledge this case is the first report of intramuscular hemangioma in the zygomaticus muscle. CONCLUSION: IMHs are rare in the head and neck area and must be considered in differential diagnosis of isolated muscle mass in this region.