DOI: 10.36347/sjmcr.2014.v02i07.008

Pages: 448-451

Schwannomas are solitary, benign, well-circumscribed, encapsulated, slow-growing tumors originating from Schwann cells of the peripheral nerve sheath. Approximately 30-45% of cases occur in the head and neck region, of which 1-1.5% has been reported in the oral cavity. They are usually asymptomatic and malignant transformation is extremely uncommon. Few cases of intraoral schwannoma occurring in the sites such as vestibule, lips, salivary glands, palate, floor of the mouth, tongue, gingival and the mental nerve region have been reported in the medical literature. Glossopharyngeal schwannomas are rare entities and can arise either from the intracranial or from the extracranial portion of the cranial nerve. Extra cranial schwannomas usually present as a painless parapharyngeal space mass. This report describes a rare case of parapharyngeal schwannoma in 32- year old male patient. We present this case of parapharyngeal schwannoma in view of its rarity and value of radiological investigations in diagnosis the parapharyngeal masses.