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Mucinous adenocarcinoma of minor salivary glands: a high-grade malignancy prone to lymph node metastasis

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Abstract

Salivary gland mucinous adenocarcinoma (MAC) is a rarely encountered and poorly understood tumor. We describe two additional cases presenting as a lip lesion of older women. The prognosis was dismal with one death and one patient with recurrent/metastatic disease. Combining these with 19 cases in the literature unveiled that intraoral MAC occurred primarily in the palate (43%) of elderly individuals (average 65 years) with slight male preponderance (59%). Tumor evolved slowly (>2 years) and most (60%) were diagnosed at an advanced stage. Local recurrences were common (33%) and cervical lymph node and distant metastases were frequent (63% and 29%, respectively). About half the patients (47%) died of tumor within 6 years. Both histologically and immunohistochemically, MAC lacked acinar, myoepithelial, and neuroendocrine phenotypes. Cytokeratins 7 and 20 and estrogen and progesterone receptors, in some combination, may assist to distinguish primary versus metastatic mucinous carcinoma. Minor salivary gland MAC belongs to a high-grade category with a significant risk of local recurrence, lymph node metastasis, and fatal outcome.

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We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, Tsurumi University School of Dental Medicine, 2-1-3 Tsurumi, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, 230-8501, Japan

    Fumio Ide, Kenji Mishima & Ichiro Saito

  2. Division of Pathology, Department of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Sciences, Meikai University School of Dentistry, Saitama, Japan

    Fumio Ide, Akio Tanaka & Kaoru Kusama

Authors
  1. Fumio Ide
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  2. Kenji Mishima
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  3. Akio Tanaka
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  4. Ichiro Saito
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  5. Kaoru Kusama
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Correspondence to Fumio Ide.

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Ide, F., Mishima, K., Tanaka, A. et al. Mucinous adenocarcinoma of minor salivary glands: a high-grade malignancy prone to lymph node metastasis. Virchows Arch 454, 55–60 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-008-0699-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-008-0699-1

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