Biomedical Research

A 41 year old female had been found to have swelling of the right palatine tonsil approximately 6 years previously. She had pronounced sneezing and transient episodes of apnea during sleep. A pedunculated polyp connected to the original palatine tonsil by a distinct stalk was surgically extirpated, and was 3.8×1.5×1 cm in size, with a whitishyellow cut surface. This lesion was covered by squamous epithelium with marked edema and slight surface keratinization. Within the lesion, there was loose fibrous tissue containing fibroblastic cell proliferation, lymph follicles, and/or follicle-like lymphocyte aggregations, lymphoid cell infiltration, and many small blood and lymph vessels, as well as small amounts of fatty tissue. Interestingly, S-100 proteinpositive lymphocytes were commonly found among clustered lymphocytes in the lymph vessels. In the stalk connecting the polyp to the original tonsil, a thickwalled artery was found. The histopathological diagnosis was pedunculated hamartomatous polyp of the palatine tonsil. The general character of this lesion, although it did not include a large amount of lymphoid tissue, was essentially similar to tonsillar tissue, and it appeared to be hamartomatous in nature.

Author(s): Yuji Ohtsuki, Nobuko Kurita, Mitsuko Iguchi, Atsushi Kurabayashi, Manabu Matsumoto, Tamotsu Takeuchi, and Mutsuo Furihata
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