Cavernous haemangioma of the temporalis muscle: case report and review of the literature

Haemangiomas are benign vascular neoplasms characterized by an abnormal proliferation of blood vessels. They may occur in any vascularized tissue including skin, subcutaneous tissue muscle and bone. These tumours are common in infancy and childhood and commonly involve subcutaneous or mucosal tissues. Intramuscular haemangiomas, a distinctive type of haemangioma occurring within skeletal muscle, account for less than 1% of all haemangiomas. They occur more often in trunk and extremity muscles, whereas involvement of the temporal muscle is extremely rare. Herein, the case is reported of a 38-year-old male who presented with a round, painless mass in the left temporal fossa, which was interpreted as an intramuscular haemangioma after a magnetic resonance imaging scan. In this report, clinico-pathological findings are described in an additional case of haemangioma involving the temporal muscle, and a review is made of the international literature on this subject.