Bilateral Stafne Bone Cavity in the Anterior Mandible with Heterotopic Salivary Gland Tissue: A Case Report

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Stafne bone cavity is a well demarcated defect of the mandi-ble, usually asymptomatic and located in the posterior portion of the bone. 1 Most cases have been reported in male patients between the age of 50 and 70 years. 2 This lesion has been labeled with various terms, including ectopic salivary gland, idiopathic defect, mandibular salivary gland inclusion, Stafne bone cavity and cyst. 2 The cavities are often filled with normal salivary gland tissue, but occasional cases showed cavity contents that included skeletal muscle, fibrous connective tissue and adipose tissue. Bilateral Stafne bone cavity of the anterior mandible is extremely rare and only seven such cases have been reported previously. 2 Herein, we report a case of bilateral Stafne bone cavity of the anterior mandible. Two well demarcated ovoid radiolucent lesions (right, 3.9× 1.5 cm and left, 2.9×1.1 cm) were found incidentally in the anterior mandible of a 44-year-old female patient on her panoramic dental X-ray (Fig. 1). The patient did not show any symptom of radiolucencies. The radiological findings were interpreted as radicular cysts. Two fragments of tissue from the cavities were submitted for histological diagnosis. The biopsied tissue fragments showed normal salivary gland tissue with mixed serous and mucinous cells. These findings were otherwise unremarkable, except for the small amount of lymphoid cell infiltration that was discovered (Fig. 2). The clinical, radiological , and pathological findings were consistent with Stafne bone cavity. DISCUSSION Since Stafne bone cavities were first reported in 1942, most cases have been found in the posterior mandible. 3 However, these cavities were found also in the anterior portion of mandible in 1957 by Richard and Ziskind. 4 Until now, only approximately fifty cases of anterior Stafne bone cavities have been reported. 2 Similar to Stafne bone cavities located elsewhere in the man-dible, anterior lesions show a wide age range (18 to 68 years) and higher prevalence in males (3:1, males:females). 2 Most Staf-ne bone cavities are diagnosed on radiology, and only clinical follow-up with additional radiographic examination is sufficient unless there are symptoms or progression. The rarity of anterior Stafne bone cavities causes confusion and can hinder accurate and prompt diagnosis of this condition. Because the cavities …