Pigmented Villonodular Synovitis of the Temporomandibular Joint: Case Report and Literature Review

The term pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) was initially introduced by Jaffe et al1 in 1941 although it was first described by Chassaignac2 as a nodular lesion of the synovium in 1852. Conventional PVNS is also known as diffuse-type giant cell tumor of the tendon sheath as well as diffuse-type tenosynovial gi-ant cell tumor. It is a benign proliferative lesion with an aggressive behavior that can affect the synovial joint. It generally involves large joints sites such as the knee and hip but may also affect the ankle, foot, hand, elbow, shoulder, and, more rarely, the temporo-mandibular joint (TMJ). Most cases have a monoarticu-lar presentation, and the annual incidence in the United States was estimated to be 1.8 cases per million population.3 A study conducted by Xie et al4 demon-strated that PVNS had a higher predominance in women and a higher incidence rate between 20 and 40 years of age with an average of 36 years. In 1973, Lapayowker et al5 reported the first 2 cases of PVNS-TMJ. Since then, 165 PVNS-TMJ cases have been reported in the English literature, and at least 19 addi-tional cases in non-English languages.