Acinic cell carcinoma is a rare tumor of salivary gland origin. Acinic cell carcinoma usually occurs in the parotid gland, and is most frequently seen in adults.
We report a rare case of acinic cell carcinoma in the submandibular gland of a 13-year-old boy. He was referred to our department because of painless swelling in the right submandibular gland. US revealed a mass like a pleomorphic adenoma, but it had an unclear margin between the salivary gland tissue and mass lesion. CT and MRI showed that the mass included enhanced or non-enhanced areas with unclear margin. We diagnosed this lesion as a salivary gland tumor, and excised the whole submandibular gland because the tumor was surrounded by normal salivary gland tissue and did not invade adjacent structures.
Histological findings of the surgical specimen revealed that this tumor was acinic cell carcinoma and was localized within the submandibular gland with normal capsule. Nine years after operation, there has been no evidence of recurrence or metastasis.
