angiomyolipoma is a benign tumor that is histologically composed of groups of mature adipose tissue intermixed with convoluted thick - walled blood vessels , interlacing bundles , and irregularly arranged sheets of smooth muscle , with the kidney as the most frequent site of involvement . extrarenal angiomyolipoma can occur in organs such as the liver , lung , uterus , and skin . only two instances of this tumor arising in the tongue have previously been reported [ 1 , 2 ] . a 61-year - old woman was referred to our hospital with a mass in the left proglossis that was painless , but had enlarged slowly for 5 years . the mass measured 20  mm  20  mm and was soft and dome shaped with a dark violet - colored surface ( figure 1 ) . the mass was well - demarcated and easily dissected with an ultrasonic surgical aspirator ( figure 2 ) . histopathological examination showed an encapsulated lesion composed of a proliferation of an intricate mixture of mature adipose tissue , blood vessels , and smooth muscle ( figure 3(a ) ) . the patient 's postoperative course was uneventful , and there were no signs of recurrence at followup at 18 months ( figure 4 ) . koizumi et al .   reported a case of angiomyolipoma in the centre of the tongue . described a case of a angiomyolipomatous hamartoma arising in the left lateral border of the tongue . in the present case , angiomyolipoma arose in the proglossis and it had a diagnosis of hemangioma because of its hardness and color . because the three principal components in angiomyolipoma , regardless of its location , vary greatly in proportion and distribution , its heterogeneity may cause diagnostic confusion . the differential diagnosis includes lipomatous or myolipomatous tumours , angiomyoma , angiolipoma , hemangioma , fibroma , and fibrolipomatous hyperplasia . angiomyolipoma could be considered a hamartoma , but there is no consensus that these lesions are a single entity . ide et al .   reported that the present lesion may not be a classic oral angiomyolipoma because it was poorly circumscribed and not encapsulated . they suggested the term angiomyolipomatous hamartoma to designate this lesion . in agreement with ide et al . , we diagnosed the present case as an angiomyolipoma because the mass had enlarged gradually with active proliferation and was well - encapsulated . in particular , tongue cancer and hemangioma are tumors with many blood vessels in the proposed area of surgical excision . for preservation of the nervous system and avoidance of bleeding , an ultrasonic surgical aspirator is effective in the resection of these tongue tumors [ 35 ] . in our case ,
a 61-year - old woman was referred to our hospital with a mass in the left proglossis . 
 the lesion was excised with a provisional diagnosis of hemangioma . 
 the mass was well - demarcated and easily dissected with an ultrasonic surgical aspirator . 
 the histopathologic diagnosis was angiomyolipoma arising in the tongue . 
 there were no signs of recurrence at followup at 18 months .