ABSTRACT
Juvenile angiofibroma is a rare benign but locally aggressive tumour originating in the region of the sphenopalatine foramen and presenting almost exclusively in adolescent males.1-7 Early descriptions of nasal masses by Hippocrates are believed to have included cases of angiofibromas.8 Chelius in 1847 described the presence of a fibrous nasal mass in the pubertal male.9 Chaveau writing in 1906 believed the site of origin of these lesions to be in the nasopharynx and coined the term juvenile nasopharyngeal angioma. Friedberg’s histological analysis of these tumours in the 1940s demonstrated them to be composed of connective tissue and vascular elements and he amended the term to juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma.10 The introduction of modern radiological techniques however further refined the understanding of the origin and growth patterns of these lesions and it is currently believed that the site of origin is not within the nasopharynx but from the region of the sphenopalatine foramen.11,12 Hence nasopharyngeal has been dropped from the nomenclature and these lesions are currently known as juvenile angiofibromas.
