Abstract
A 62-year-old man visited our clinic complaining of abnormal sensation of the throat and a painless tumor in the left upper neck. Examination revealed a large, elastic firm tumor growing from the left submandibular gland region and extending widely to the left parapharyngeal space. A diagnosis of a submanibular gland tumor extending to the parapharyngeal space was made and the tumor was surgically excised through an external neck incision. Six months later, this tumor recurred at the lateral upper neck, which was removed via the same approach as previously done. Histological examination showed “polymorphous adenocarcinoma” arising from the submandibular gland.
The tumor recurred again at the same upper neck so that the patient received radiation therapy for a total of 60Gy to the primary site of the neck, which was followed by chemotherapy of the combination of Cisplatin and 5FU. The response of the patient to these therapeutic measures was quite remarkable and the tumor completely disappeared several months later.
The clinicopathological characteristics of polymorphous adenocarcinoma of the salivary gland are discussed with a review of the literature.
