Pulmonary metastases from an Ameloblastoma: Case report and review of the literature

Ameloblastomas have a high recurrence rate, and because of their biological tendency towards local invasion are considered borderline tumours. Despite this, reports of metastasis of these tumours are rare. This report presents a patient with mandibular ameloblastoma that recurred 29 years after surgery and metastasized to both lungs. Because of the large range of the area of metastasis, complete surgical resection of the tumours was impossible. After confirming the diagnosis by biopsy of the pulmonary lesions the pulmonary metastases were not treated actively. Observation over 4 years showed no obvious change in the lung metastasis. Recent cases are summarized and analyzed in this paper, with respect to its occurrence, pathological types, methods of treatment and other related aspects. (C) 2012 European Association for Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery.