Salivary gland tumors clinically showing a cystic pattern are relatively rare in the oral and maxillofacial region. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma rarely shows a cystic pattern clinically and is rarely found in the jaw.
A 23-year-old woman with central mucoepidermoid carcinoma in the maxilla is presented. She complained of swelling of the right side of the palate, present for the last 5 years. X-ray examination revealed two adjacent, cystic lesions: one small egg-sized lesion located in the 6 5 4 region, and partly in the maxillary sinus, and one thumb-tip-sized lesion located in the other right maxillary retromolar region. The clinical diagnosis was a maxillary cyst of the 6 5 4 region and an odontogenic cyst of the 8 region. The two cystic lesions were removed orally. The legions were pathologically diagnosed as a primordial cyst and mucoepidermoid carcinoma. Partial maxillectomy, including 4 toward the retromolar area, was performed just after diagnosis of mucoepidermoid carcinoma. She was alive, without local recurrence or metastasis, as of 3 years after a 2nd operation.
