Pleomorphic adenoma(PA) is the single most common salivary gland
tumor. It has a diverse histological presentation because of
varying proportions of different epithelial and mesenchymal
elements, and presents clinically and radiologically in various
ways as it occurs at many different sites in the head and neck
region. Very occasionally however, metastatic lesions are
identified in patients with a history of PA, which, on detailed
pathological evaluation, are found to exhibit all the
histological hallmarks of the preceding benign lesions.
Metastasizing Pleomorphic Adenoma (MPA) of parotid gland is a
rare condition in which the etiology remains incompletely
understood and the histological appearance, currently
indistinguishable from a benign pleomorphic adenoma, is at great
variance with its clinically malignant behavior. Its histologic
features may exhibit recurrence and locally aggressive behavior
especially after incomplete excision. We present 40 year-old man
with the MPA of the parotid gland who had history of a incomplete
surgery 20 years ago. We realized that facial nerve injury can
occur more frequently during surgery of MPA. |