Primary mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the bulbar conjunctiva

ABSTRACT

A 58-year-old male presented with redness for 1 year and dimness of vision for 2 years in his left eye. Excision biopsy from an inferotemporal conjunctival mass revealed high-grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) with lymphovascular invasion and positive margins. The tumor bed was irradiated to 80 Gy using strontium 90 β-applicator. After 13 months, fine-needle aspiration cytology from a suspicious preauricular lymphadenopathy found metastatic cells. Ipsilateral supra-omohyoid neck dissection showed three positive nodes out of 15, and the left neck was irradiated. He is disease free at present, 12 months from external beam radiation therapy completion. With 48 cases reported in the literature, conjunctival MEC remains a rare condition, possibly in part due to clinicopathological underdiagnosis. This is unfortunate, given that this cancer is more aggressive, has a poorer prognosis, and warrants more vigorous treatment than squamous cell carcinoma, which it may be misdiagnosed as in the absence of appropriate staining and pathological review