Infantile fibrosarcoma of the parotid gland in a 6-year old female: case report and management challenges

Abstract

Infantile fibrosarcoma is a rare soft tissue sarcoma that may present at any time from birth to early childhood. The parotid gland is not a common site for malignancies especially in children, and there has been no report of this disease in our environment.
The aim of this publication is to report a case of this rare tumour, managed recently in our Centre, and to highlight some of the attendant challenges during the management.
We present the case of a 6-year old female child with infantile fibrosarcoma of the left parotid gland and subtle left facial palsy – probably the first in Nigeria; emphasizing the rarity of this tumour, and the need for a high index of suspicion in making the diagnosis.

Keywords: Chemotherapy, facial palsy, infantile fibrosarcoma, parotidectomy