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Wk 6, Case 2 - Review

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So this is an example of a retromolar trigon carcinoma.

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It's located posterior to the right maxillary tuberosity and anterior to the

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anterior portion of the ramus.

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So this is the example here of the retromolar trigon carcinoma.

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Now one thing about this retromolar trigone carcinoma is that what I want

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you to do is look at the left side.

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See how this cortex here of the ramus of the mandible is intact.

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And look at the signal within the ramus of the left mandible on the left hand

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side, on the right hand side,

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the anterior portion of the ramus of the mandible that's eroded.

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And there's abnormal enhancement here involving the marrow.

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So this is an example of a retromolar trigone that also extended posteriorly to

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erode the anterior ramus of the mandible.

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So one thing I've noticed about retromolar trigone is that they tend to be one

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of the most under staged tumors.

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And that is if you look at in the retromolar trigone,

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if you've ever looked in someone's mouth, it's very,

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very hard to peer and look around that last tooth.

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So the surgeons can see this component of the retromolar trigone tumor,

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but they can't see that deep component.

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And because of the proximity of the rec, the um,

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ramus of the mandible to the maxillary tuberosity,

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if you have a three centimeter lesion in the oral tongue,

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well it's just gonna kind of burrow its way into the tongue.

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But if you put that same three centimeter lesion located right here,

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notice how it's gonna completely abut and grow into the bone.

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And this bone erosion is oftentimes clinically occult.

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So I strongly recommend, um,

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getting both CT and MR in patients with retromolar trigone

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carcinomas because of the early likelihood of tumor

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spread into the anterior portion of the ramus of the mandible.

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So let me stop there and do you have any questions on that?

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So this is the part right here is a tonsil.

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So this is the anterior tonsor pillar. This is the palatine tonsil,

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and this is the posterior tonsor pillar.

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This muscle right here is the superior constrictor muscle,

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and this is the bator muscle.

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So where the superior constrictor muscle interdigitates with the bator muscle.

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That tendon right there is the tego mandibular.

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The teeth are the central incisor lateral incisor, canine first,

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premolar second premolar, first molar, second molar third molar.

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This space behind the third molar is the retromolar trigone.

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So here is the ramus of the mandible.

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So if you have tumors that are involved in the retromolar trigone,

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they can grow posteriorly.

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They can jump here along the superior constrictor muscle.

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They can involve the tego mandibular and they can extend and then they

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can involve the bone. Once tumors get on this region,

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they can grow posteriorly along the superior constrictor muscle.

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They can grow anteriorly along the vaccinator muscle or

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They can jump on the tego mandibular ra and extend all the way up into the

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superior skull base. So in this particular case,

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this retromolar Trigon carcinoma extended into the region

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of the Tego mandibular ra.

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And this is associated with erosion here of the anterior portion of the

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mandible.

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So this is a nice example here of the Retromolar Trigo carcinoma.

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And in this case, look at the left hand side.

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We can see the superior constrictor muscle here.

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And notice on the right hand side,

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we can see this tumor growing along the superior constrictor muscle.

Report

Patient History
Right jaw pain. Clinical exam noted a mass behind the right 3rd molar tooth.

Findings
Pre- and post-contrast MR was performed of the region of the oral cavity in a patient with right jaw pain. The study is abnormal. There is an aggressive lesion that measures approximately 2.5cm in largest dimension that involves the right retromolar trigone that appears to be centered posterior to the right mandible. The tumor extends posteriorly along the superior constrictor muscle along the pteryomandibular raphe to the expected insertion of the right palatoglossus muscle into the tongue base. Thus, there is involvement of the inferior portion of the right anterior tonsillar pillar. The tumor involves the pteryomandibular raphe and extends inferiorly to involve the inferomedial aspect of the mylohyoid muscle. Superiorly, the tumor extends along the pteryomandibular raphe to approximately of the level of the soft palate.

The tumor extends posteriorly and abuts the anterior margin of the ramus of the right mandible. The T2-weighted images demonstrate some increased T2 signal involving the anterior aspect of the ramus of the right mandible which appears to enhance on the fat-suppressed contrast-enhanced T1-weighted images. Thus, there does appear to be marrow involvement which could be due to direct tumor invasion or peritumoral edema. The posterior margin of the tumor also abuts the medial pterygoid muscle at its insertion of the ramus and the mandible.

Imaging of the neck demonstrates no definite evidence of enlarged cervical lymph nodes given standard size criteria. However, there is an asymmetrically enlarged 1.5cm right level 2 lymph node. Given that this is on the ipsilateral side of the right retromolar trigone carcinoma, this lymph node is suspicious for metastasis.

Conclusions
1. Approximately 2.5cm aggressive mass involving the right retromolar trigone with extension medially to involve the anterior tonsillar pillar and superiorly to the level of the soft palate. The lesion abuts the anterior ramus of the right mandible and is associated with some increased T2 signal and contrast enhancement which is suspicious for marrow involvement which could either be due to tumor involvement or peritumoral edema. Thin-section CT would help evaluate for cortical invasion of the anterior portion of the ramus and the mandible.
2. 1.5cm right level 2 lymph node. Given this lymph node is asymmetrically enlarged on the ipsilateral side of the tumor, these findings are suspicious for nodal metastasis and would increase the stage to N1.

Case Discussion

Faculty

David M Yousem, MD, MBA

Professor of Radiology, Vice Chairman and Associate Dean

Johns Hopkins University

Suresh K Mukherji, MD, FACR, MBA

Clinical Professor, University of Illinois & Rutgers University. Faculty, Michigan State University. Director Head & Neck Radiology, ProScan Imaging

Tags

Neuroradiology

MRI

Head and Neck