Schwannoma of the Palatine Tonsil: A Rare Entity in an Eight Year Old Girl

Objective: We present a case of tonsillar schwannoma occurring in the youngest patient described in the English literature.

Results: An eight year old girl was found to have a 12 month history of slowly progressive dysphagia and two month history of a rapidly enlarging right sided oropharyngeal mass. A right sided tonsillectomy was performed and while there was an involved margin, the MRI post excision showed no residual tumour or abnormal enhancement. The final histology demonstrated the
lesion to be a schwannoma.

Conclusion: This represents an important addition to the literature as there have only been eight other cases of tonsillar schwannoma described in the literature, two of which had been in children. This case represents the youngest patient reported to date.