Surgically excising an intraoral schwannoma of the soft palate using a buccinator flap: A case report

INTRODUCTION Schwannomas are benign tumors derived from Schwann cells. However, schwannomas in the soft palate is considered rare. PRESENTATION OF CASE We report a case of a 17-year-old girl who presented with a 20-mm nodular lesion in the soft palate. After surgical resection, a buccinator musculomucosal flap was used for soft palate reconstruction. At 6 months post-operation, velopharyngeal insufficiency was not observed. DISCUSSION In this report, palatal muscles are examined, and the necessity of palatal muscle preservation and reconstruction of the defect in the soft palate mucosa after surgical resection of a schwannoma in the soft palate is presented. CONCLUSION Following resection of an approximately 20?X?19-mm-sized schwannoma of the soft palate, which is a relatively rare site of occurrence for schwannomas, we performed reconstruction of the defect using a BMMF to prevent scar contracture. This was an effective method of reconstruction in consideration of velopharyngeal function. (C) 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of IJS Publishing Group Ltd.