Giant Retropharyngeal Lipoma

Lipoma in the head and neck is relatively rare and retropharyngeal lipoma is even rarer in this area. Not more than 45 cases of lipoma retropharyngeal have been found in the literature since 1877 to 2014. It is a benign tumor that consists of adipose tissue cells, which appears as a soft mass without any severe symptoms unless it reaches large size [1]. Literature reported that the tumor was discovered accidentally when a computed tomography (CT) scan of the head and neck for other diseases was performed [2,3]. Retropharyngeal lipoma usually occurs in adults over the age of 35 years [4], although in children aged 11 and 12 years have also been reported in the literature [5,6]. Therapy will be a transoral or transcervical approach of excision. Low prevalence rates in the world makes a discussion about this disease to be interesting; especially case that occured in Dr. Soetomo Hospital is a retropharyngeal lipoma with a relatively large size.