Misdiagnosed Extranasal Mass: Report of A 2-Year Old Child with Maltreated Rare Nasal Neuroglial Heterotopia

Congenital midline nasal masses, although rare, have some differential diagnoses. Dermoidor epidermoid tumors, encephaloceles, vascular anomalies, and neuroglial heterotopia are the most common diagnoses. Nasal neuroglial heterotopia (formerly known as nasal glioma) is a rare benign congenital lesion which can be at intranasal, extranasal, or mixed anatomic location.1-3 We present a two year old child with a 3×3 centimeters mass over the nasal dorsum. As her parents said, the mass was present from her birth and had constant size and characteristics from then. Previously they had been referred to some physicians and had been diagnosed as hemangioma. With such a diagnosis and because of its size and location and probable future visual problems oral corticosteroids had been used, which was ineffective (Figure 1A and B). She was from a normal vaginal delivery without any problem or any positive family history. In systematic examinations, she had no other lesion. It was a partially mobile, incompressible, relatively firm and non-tender mass with normal skin coverage which was located at the nasal dorsum. Nasal airway was patent and there was no intranasal extension. They had a Doppler ultrasonography exam reporting a solid hypoechoic mass with very few vascularity within the mass. In MRI, a CT scan evaluated a well-defined soft tissue mass without any intranasal or intracranial extension.