CASE REPORTS   

Otorinolaringologia 2004 September;54(3):159-63

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma of salivary glands. Case series

Salami A. ¹, Medicina M. C. ¹, Dellepiane M. ¹, Mura A. C. ²

¹ Clinica Otorinolaringoiatrica 2 Università degli Studi di Genova, Genova 2 Struttura Complessa di Otorinolaringoiatria Ospedale Galliera, Genova

Epithelial-myoe­pi­the­lial car­ci­no­ma is approx­i­mate­ly 1% of all sal­i­vary ­glands ­tumors. It usu­al­ly aris­es in the parot­id ­gland, but it can ­also ­occur in the ­minor ubiq­ui­tous sal­i­vary ­glands. Histological and bio­log­i­cal fea­tures are at ­present a con­tro­ver­sial mat­ter. Biological fea­ture is not uni­vo­cal: the epi­the­lial-myoe­pi­the­lial car­ci­no­ma is ­benign in the major­ity of cas­es, but ­local recur­rence, cer­vi­cal ­lymph-­node metas­ta­ses and dis­tant metas­ta­ses at inter­val ­from 2 ­months to 28 ­years ­have ­been ­described. In ­this ­paper 3 cas­es of epi­the­lial-myoe­pi­the­lial car­ci­no­ma are pre­sent­ed, 2 of the parot­id ­gland and 1 of a ­minor sal­i­vary ­gland of gin­gi­va. As ­regard clin­i­cal ­signs, the ­most impor­tant was a ­mass in the pri­mary and/or met­a­stat­ic ­site, increas­ing in ­size ­from 6 ­months to 1 ­year. In the cas­es of the parot­id ­area, ­there was not ­facial asym­me­try or ­pain. In ­case 1, ­neck ­node metas­ta­ses at the diag­no­sis ­were ­present and system­ic metas­ta­ses with­in 1 ­year ­were ­observed; in ­case 3, mul­ti­ple pri­mary ­site recur­renc­es with­in 2 ­years ­after ­initial sur­gery ­were ­observed and a ­total parot­i­dec­to­my was per­formed. Case 2 ­showed exten­sion to the sur­round­ing tis­sue and to the ­neck ­nodes; cuta­ne­ous ­local recur­renc­es ­were ­found and a post­op­er­a­tive radio­ther­a­py and chem­o­ther­a­py ­were admin­is­tered. On the ­basis of our ­case ­series and in agree­ment ­with oth­er ­authors, it is pos­sible to con­firm ­that the asso­ci­a­tion ­between clin­i­cal stag­ing and oth­er fac­tors show­ing the ­stage of car­ci­no­ma dif­fe­ren­ti­a­tion, ­like myoe­pi­the­lial mark­ers or ­cell pro­life­ra­tive activ­ity, con­trib­ute to ­reveal the bio­log­i­cal beha­vi­our of the neo­plasm and its ther­a­py.