extraskeletal soft tissue chondroma is a very rare , slow - progressing , benign tumour .
chondromas are tumour - like masses formed by proliferation of chondrocytes in a mature hyaline matrix .
a 22-year - male came with chief complaints of asymptomatic swelling on the palate since birth .
he had symptoms of cleft palate , i.e. , nasal regurgitation and poor speech . on examination
, there was a complete cleft of secondary palate and the cleft was filled by non - tender , globular swelling of size 3 sq .
there was a linear band of soft tissue extending from the anterior part of the swelling to the upper lip mucosal surface after passing through the diastasis of the upper central incisors [ figure 1 ] .
pre - operative photograph showing palatal swelling completely obliterating the cleft with linear band extending to the lip on computed tomography scan , a 30 mm  28 mm size , well - defined , globular soft tissue mass was seen in the region of the hard palate , which showed fusion defect anteriorly .
plain computed tomography coronal section of the swelling differential diagnosis of dermoid cyst and chondroma were kept .
intraoperatively , the tumour was seen attached by a small pedicle to the nasal mucosa of the cleft margin on the right side .
the tumour was excised along with the linear band of tissue extending to the mucosal surface of the upper lip [ figure 3 ] .
histopathological examination revealed hypercellular lobules of cartilage composed of evenly spaced chondrocytes of uniform size and separated by collagen and adipose tissue .
there was no recurrence after 2 years of follow - up [ figure 5 ] .
histopathological appearance of the chondroma two - year follow - up photograph showing repaired palate having adequate length with no recurrence
soft tissue chondromas are benign cartilage - forming tumours that are usually found in close proximity to the tendon or joint capsules .
only five cases of soft tissue chondroma of palate have been reported in the literature.[36 ] it has never been reported in a patient of cleft palate .
one theory is that these lesions are from residual embryonal tissue ( embryonic remnant theory ) .
the other theory is that these lesions are from metaplasia of pluripotential mesenchymal cells ( metaplastic theory ) . in our case , because the swelling was present since birth , this goes in favour of embryonic remnant theory . even after a meticulous review of the literature , we could not establish the cause and effect relationship between chondroma and cleft palate .
in fact , we feel that the embryonic changes in the palate during the process of cleft might lead to entrapment of mesodermal tissue ( mesoderm giving rise to cartilage / bone ) .
clinically , these tumors present as slow - growing , firm masses not attached to the underlying bone and are , occasionally , painful .
radiologically , soft tissue chondroma show well - demarcated , extraskeletal , soft tissue masses .
 soft tissue chondroma of palate is very rare . 
 it has never been reported in a cleft palate patient . 
 we report a case of 22-year - old male who came with asymptomatic swelling on the palate since birth , along with complete cleft of secondary palate . 
 he had symptoms related to cleft palate only , i.e. , nasal regurgitation and speech abnormalities . 
 swelling was excised and the cleft palate was repaired . 
 histopathological examination revealed chondroma of the palate . 
 the patient had no recurrence after 2 years of follow - up . 