Abstract: Objective To investigate the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of lipoblastoma of head and neck and analyze the clinical manifestations, imaging and pathologic features. Methods Nine cases of histopathologically proven lipoblastoma presented to Beijing Children's Hospital from December 2012 to April 2015 were reviewed. The clinical characteristics, imaging findings, surgical management and follow-up results were analyzed. Results There were 4 males and 5 females subjects aged from 4 months to 3 years in our series. The chief complaints were snoring, respiratory distress and painless superficial soft tissue masses. Tumors occurred in pharynx (n=5) and neck (n=4). One case of cervical tumors involving the spinal canal underwent surgical resections twice and others with once complete surgical resection. Complete surgical resection was performed in 4 cases of pharyngeal tumor and another one underwent conservative surgical resection. The pathological results of 3 cases were lipoblastomatosis and others were lipoblastoma. The follow-up periods ranged from 10 months to 3 years. Recurrence occurred in 2 cases of pharyngeal tumor 3 months after the operation. One case lives with residual tumor and all patients with cervical tumors had no recurrence. Conclusion Pediatric lipoblastoma is a rare benign tumor, especially in the head and neck, which presents some different clinical characteristics from the lipoblastoma of other regions. Surgical resection is the only effective treatment up to now. Although complete surgical resection is more curative, subtotal resection may be an effective alternative for those extensive lesions in the head and neck which are too difficult to get radical treatments. Pharyngeal lipoblastoma may have more potency of recurrence.

Key words: lipoblastoma, head and neck, children, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis