A Case of Adenocarcinoma on the Base of the Tongue

Abstract

Carcinoma of the tongue, the most malignant type of cancers, is known to occur more frequently in males than in females. For descriptive purposes, carcinoma of the tongue is treated either as carcinoma on the base of the tongue or as carcinoma of the tongue excluding the basal region. Of the latter type, carcinoma of the tongue is most commonly found on the side of the tongue and one on the tip or dorsum is relatively rare.
Carcinoma on the base of the tongue, on the other hand, is comparatively restricted in its incidence among the Japanese, accounting for nearly 20 % in the total occurrence of carcinoma of the tongue. In Europe, its incidence is much higher and anywhere 1/4 to 2/5 of carcinoma of the tongue is said to be of the basal type.
By way of histologic types, a greater portion of carcinoma on the base of the tongue is of the squamous-cell carcinoma and, in many cases, they are relatively undifferentiated. Although there are other types such as lymphoepithelioma and transitional-cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma is only rarely found.
The present report describes a case of adenocarcinoma recently encountered by the Department of Pathology, Nihon University School of Dentistry, Tokyo, Japan.