Glioma nasale

The Nasal Glioma (NG) is a rare, benign congenital mass which arises extra or intranasally. It's a true heterotopia (it's possible to observe the presence of mature glial tissue outside the craniospinal axis) and it's not connected with the central nervous system. The term "nasal glioma" is often used because of its frequent perinasal predilection. M.B. Schmidt gave the first accurate description of NG in 1900. This mass is also refferred to as "nasal cerebral heterotopias" and it may be interpreted as ectopic neural hamartomas (choristoma) in which ectopic brain tissue undergoes a tumor-like evolution. Howewer, most Authors hypothesize that this congenital mass starts as encephaloceles, partially or completely separated from the cerebral lobes by closure of the cranial sutures during the growth. For this reason newborn infants and young children are most commonly affected.