CLINICAL CASES   

Otorinolaringologia 1999 September;49(3):147-9

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Myoepithelioma of the parotid gland

Zupi A., Mangone G. M., Maremonti P., Califano L.

Università degli Studi di Napoli, «Federico II» - Napoli Cattedra di Chirurgia Maxillo-Facciale Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia

Myoepitheliomas represent less than 1% of all salivary glands tumors; they usually involve the parotid gland. About one hundred cases have been described in the literature and this rarity is cause of a poor clinical knowledge. Differential diagnosis with pleomorphic adenoma is the main clinical challenge; the treatment is similar in both lesions, but the potentially aggressive myoepithelioma requires an adequate therapeutical planning and a thorough follow-up. The described case emphasizes this problem. In fact, the cytological preoperative diagnosis was pleomorphic adenoma, and only by the histologic exam of the surgical specimen a correct diagnosis of myoepithelioma was made. But this difficulty could be override with the immunohistochemical staining for all dubious preoperative cytological samples.