Angiofibrolipoma of the soft palate: A very rare cause of upper air way obstruction in an infant.

Abstract

Introduction: Infants and children are very prone to air way obstruction due to smaller and immature air ways. There are multiple causes of upper airway obstruction in infants like infections, congenital lesions and rarely tumours of the upper airway. However, angiofibrolipoma, a rare variant of lipoma causing intermittent respiratory distress in an infant has not been reported until now.

Objective: To report a very rare case of angiofibrolipoma arising from the soft palate in an infant.

Case report: Two and half months old female child reported to the department of otolaryngology with a history of intermittent airway obstruction since one month of age. After evaluation she was found to have a fleshy polypoidal mass above the laryngeal inlet arising from soft palate causing airway compromise. She underwent surgical excison with bipolar cautery under general anaesthesia.

Conclusion: Few cases of angiofibrolipoma has been reported in adults but none has been reported in children. This is to report a case of angiofibrolipoma in child causing airway obstruction.