The mass had raised the bony floor of the maxillary sinus, indicating that the lesion occurred in the alveolar bone of the maxilla. The lesion was not enhanced after an intravenous injection of contrast medium. On T2-weighted images, the lesion exhibited a signal intensity higher than that of the muscles. These findings were very suggestive of an odontogenic cyst in the maxilla. The diagnosis was an odontogenic myxoma.
Odontogenic myxomas are uncommon, benign tumors of the jaw bones.
The tumors are considered to be locally invasive, without definite capsule formation between the tumor and neighboring bone. However, when a myxoma occurs in the maxilla, where the bony substrates are scarce, the diagnosis of the lesion may be difficult. In this context, intra-oral radiograph, where the characteristic tennis racket appearance was recognized, could be an important key leading to the accurate diagnosis of an odontogenic myxoma. Fig.2A Fig.2B Fig. A, Soft-tissue window image.