A case of intraosseous lipoma in the mandible

Lipoma, a benign neoplasm of adipose tissue, is a common soft-tissue tumor that can occur almost anywhere on the body. Despite the abundance of adipose connective tissue in bone marrow, however, intraosseous lipoma is one of the rarest benign tumors of bone. Few lipomas of the jaw bones have been reported in the literature. We describe a 59-year-old man with swelling of the mandibular gingiva. Postoperatively, histopathological examination showed that the specimen of tissue derived from the mandible consisted of mature adipose tissue; a diagnosis of intraosseous lipoma was therefore made. As of 2 years after operation, there has been no evidence of recurrence.