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Epithelial–myoepithelial carcinoma of a minor salivary gland in the buccal mucosa

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Abstract

Epithelial–myoepithelial carcinoma (EMC) is a rare tumor constituting less than 1 % of all salivary gland tumors. This neoplasm most often involves the parotid glands, with less frequent involvement of the submandibular or minor salivary glands. This case report describes EMC arising from a minor salivary gland in the buccal mucosa. A 71-year-old Japanese man with a painless submucosal mass in the left buccal region was referred to our hospital. The patient stated that the tumor had been present for more than 4 years and was painless but increasing in size. Oral examination showed a mobile, well-defined mass of approximately 19 × 15 mm; its surface was covered mostly by normal mucosa. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a mass with well-defined borders and relative homogeneity internally. Incisional biopsy led to a histological diagnosis of a suspected pleomorphic adenoma or low-grade malignant tumor originating from the salivary gland. The patient underwent surgical excision under general anesthesia to obtain a definitive diagnosis, and EMC was diagnosed based on histopathological and immunohistochemical examination of the whole specimen. Because the surgical margins were positive in some areas, the patient underwent external postoperative radiotherapy (total of 60 Gy at 2 Gy/day). Recovery was uneventful, and good function returned after postoperative treatment. Four years after tumor resection and radiotherapy, no recurrence had been detected and no other lesions had developed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dentistry and Oral Surgery, Hakodate Central General Hospital, 33-2 Honcho, Hakodate, 040-8585, Japan

    Tsukasa Tsuji, Hideaki Kitada & Sinnosuke Abe

  2. Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Human Sciences, Hokkaido Bunkyo University, 5-196-1 Koganechuo, Eniwa, 061-1449, Japan

    Hitoshi Ikeda

  3. Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology, Department of Human Biology and Pathophysiology, School of Dentistry, Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, 1757 Kanazawa, Tobetsu, Ishikari, 061-0293, Japan

    Eiji Nakayama

Authors
  1. Tsukasa Tsuji
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  2. Hideaki Kitada
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  3. Sinnosuke Abe
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  4. Hitoshi Ikeda
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  5. Eiji Nakayama
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Correspondence to Tsukasa Tsuji.

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Tsukasa Tsuji, Hideaki Kitada, Sinnosuke Abe, Hitoshi Ikeda, and Eiji Nakayama declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human rights statements and informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008 (5). Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study. Additional informed consent was obtained from all patients for which identifying information is included in this article.

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Tsuji, T., Kitada, H., Abe, S. et al. Epithelial–myoepithelial carcinoma of a minor salivary gland in the buccal mucosa. Oral Radiol 32, 130–135 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11282-015-0221-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11282-015-0221-9

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