Prevalence of oral neurofibroma in Central Indian population: A retrospective study of 20 years

CONTEXT: Neurofibroma is a benign peripheral nerve sheath tumor. Commonly found in the peripheral soft tissues, it can manifest as a solitary mass or as a component of neurofibromatosis. AIMS: The purpose of the retrospective cross-sectional study was contributing to the literature by providing data about the prevalence of oral neurofibroma in Central Indian population. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Retrospective, cross-sectional study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: All histopathologically diagnosed cases of oral neurofibroma were retrieved from the archives of our department and were reviewed. All the cases that met the inclusion criteria were reviewed in terms of the year when the patient reported, patient's age, gender, location of the lesion, i.e., soft tissue or intraosseous, clinical appearance, i.e., growth or swelling, histopathologic diagnosis and immunohistochemistry results if available. The results were aggregated and described qualitatively using Microsoft Excel 2013. RESULTS: In our retrospective analysis of 20 years (2000–2019), we came across 14 reported cases of oral neurofibroma, in five males and nine females. Two of these cases showed a recurrent nature and one case showed transformation into atypical neurofibroma. Two cases were encountered in the mandible as an intraosseous oral neurofibroma. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, we found that oral neurofibroma was more common in the third decade with a female predilection. Gingiva was the most common site. Of the 14 cases that were encountered, two cases showed recurrence and one case showed malignant transformation. Hence, in spite of being a benign neoplasm, oral neurofibroma is locally aggressive and should be diagnosed accurately.