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Case report
Intramuscular myxoma of the longus colli mistaken for a cervical rootlet schwannoma
  1. Eleni Marie Mijalis1,
  2. Brian Manzi2,
  3. Hugo Cuellar3 and
  4. Cherie Ann O Nathan2
  1. 1School of Medicine, Louisiana State University, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
  2. 2Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
  3. 3Department of Radiology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Cherie Ann O Nathan; cnatha{at}lsuhsc.edu

Abstract

An 86-year-old woman was referred to the otolaryngology clinic for a 1-year history of a painless, slow-growing neck mass. Physical examination showed a fixed, immobile right level II neck mass with normal vocal cord movement. MRI demonstrated a lobulated mass laterally displacing the carotid vessels, consistent with a schwannoma. Despite the pathognomonic radiographic findings for schwannoma, core needle biopsy of the mass was consistent with intramuscular myxoma (IM), which rarely presents in the head and neck region. After multiple years of slow growth with bulging into the pharynx, the patient ultimately underwent surgery to reduce the risk of airway compromise. The location of this IM together with its unusual imaging appearance is a unique finding in the head and neck and adds to the differential diagnoses for neck masses displacing the carotid sheath.

  • ear
  • nose and throat/otolaryngology
  • head and neck surgery

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2020-239106

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors EMM, BM and CAON participated in patient care, patient treatment, manuscript writing and manuscript editing. HC participated in patient care through imaging review and image contribution.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.