Clinical and oral findings in an Afro-Brazilian family with Gorlin-Goltz syndrome: case series and literature review

Spec Care Dentist. 2015 Jan-Feb;35(1):43-50. doi: 10.1111/scd.12079. Epub 2014 Jul 15.

Abstract

Gorlin-Goltz syndrome (GGS) seems to be unusual in black persons. The authors present an Afro-Brazilian family case report of GGS. The main complaint of the index case was a painless swelling of the left mandible, which was diagnosed as an odontogenic keratocyst. Further classical features of the Syndrome were present in this patient. Other two family members were diagnosed as cases of GGS and one of them presented 11 clinical findings characteristic of the syndrome. From the three cases reported, two of them presented five major diagnostic criteria for the GGS, and the diagnosis was only made because of an oral complaint. This case series emphasizes the importance of carefully examining the patient and close relatives for signs of GGS, even if they belong to an ethnic group in which this diagnosis is unusual.

Keywords: African continental ancestry group; basal cell nevus syndrome; diagnosis; neoplasms; odontogenic cysts.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Africa / ethnology
  • Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome / diagnosis*
  • Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome / ethnology*
  • Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome / genetics
  • Brazil
  • Child
  • Diagnostic Imaging
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male