Cribriform adenocarcinoma of the soft palate with multiple lymph node metastasis and long-term follow-up.

INTRODUCTION: Cribriform adenocarcinoma of the tongue and minor salivary glands (CATMSG) is a recently described entity, with most cases previously published as polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinoma (PLGA). Typical cases share some main characteristics, such as oral sites (mainly tongue), regional lymph node metastasis, and morphology resembling solid and follicular variants of papillary thyroid carcinoma. OBJECTIVE: To present a CATMSG and emphasize the importance of reclassifying PLGAs with unusual behavior. CASE REPORT: A 78-year-old male presented with an ulcerated mass in the soft palate treated as PLGA. The patient developed 5 regional metastases over 11 years of follow-up, all diagnosed as PLGA. He died due to the disease, and because of the very aggressive behavior of PLGA, all histopathologic slides were revised and the tumor was reclassified as CATMSG. CONCLUSION: This report emphasizes the importance of reevaluating aggressive PLGA and contributes to a better understanding of CATMSG.

Colorectal Adenocarcinoma Metastasizing to the Oral Mucosa of the Upper Jaw.

INTRODUCTION: Metastases to the oral cavity are uncommon, accounting for only 1% of all oral malignant tumors. When they occur they mostly originate from primary tumors of the lungs, kidney, breast and prostate. Oral metastases from the primary colorectal carcinoma are much more infrequent. CASE OUTLINE: We present an unusual case of a 78-year-old man with a soft tissue oral metastasis originating from the primary colorectal carcinoma.The patient was referred to the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery with an intraoral mass on the right side of the maxilla. The diagnosis was confirmed by histopathologic examination and immunohistochemical analysis. CONCLUSION: Oral metastases occur rarely and often can mimic much more common benign lesions, therefore they should be considered as a possibility in a differential diagnosis.

[Soft palate chronic lymphocytic leukemia]. / Leucémie lymphoïde chronique vélaire.

INTRODUCTION: Forty percent of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) are located in extranodal sites. The palatal location of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is usually observed at a late stage of the disease. CASE: We report the case of a 62-year-old male patient managed for 8 years for CLL, having presented with a soft palatal tumor in the last 2 years. The diagnosis of CLL was made by immunohistochemistry. The patient was given 6 courses of chemotherapy combining fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab. DISCUSSION: The diagnosis of CLL requires immunohistochemistry. Chemotherapy is the first line treatment. The complication may be an aggressive lymphoma (Richter).

Paranasal sinus metastasis of breast cancer.

A 76-year-old woman presented with symptoms suggestive of acute sinusitis. Previously, her breast carcinoma was treated with right lumpectomy, adjuvant chemotherapy and breast radiotherapy. She remained free from recurrence for the following 8 years. After initial treatment with antibiotics, the local symptom worsened with exophthalmos, eye blindness and development of an ulceration of the hard palate. MRI showed irregular enhancement of the nasal cavity extended to the maxillary sinus and ethmoidal lamina and concomitant infiltration of the orbit and skull base. A biopsy of the palatal ulcer showed a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma and was compared with the histology of the primary breast tumour and it was concluded for the same morphology. After discussion at the multidisciplinary team, a specific chemotherapy has been activated with an initial local response. Further surgical resection was not thought appropriate and the patient has subsequently undergone palliative radiotherapy to the right paranasal lesions to improve local disease control.

Metastatic involvement of the maxillary antrum from an uncommon source.

UNLABELLED: Metastatic involvement of the jawbones is uncommon, particularly in the maxilla. Case reports of such metastases from renal cell primaries are few, making a consensus on treatment difficult to establish. We present a case of metastatic involvement of the maxilla two years following a nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma. The case exemplifies the broad range of symptoms attributable to metastases in the maxilla and the management dilemmas. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The case highlights the role of practitioners in primary dental care in identifying the potential for such pathology based on clinical and radiographic features.

Tumors metastasizing to the oral cavity: a study of 16 cases.

PURPOSE: An analysis was performed of the clinical and epidemiologic characteristics of a group of patients diagnosed with oral metastases of distant primary tumors or unknown primary malignancies. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study series consisted of 16 patients with oral metastatic lesions seen in the Department of Stomatology and Maxillofacial Surgery, Valencia University General Hospital (Valencia, Spain) that had been diagnosed in the previous 15 years. A retrospective analysis was made of patient age and gender, clinical characteristics of metastatic lesions, location of the primary tumor, and time elapsed from diagnosis to the death of a patient. RESULTS: There were 13 male and 3 female patients (mean age, 58.8 years). Ten patients had been diagnosed previously and were being treated for a primary tumor; 2 patients were diagnosed with a primary malignancy in the department; and 4 patients presented with an unidentified primary tumor (metastatic disease diagnosed from biopsy study). The predominant clinical presentation was mixed soft tissue and bone metastases followed by solely soft tissue lesions and solely bone lesions. Some patients showed no apparent oral lesions. Primary malignancies originated mainly from the lung followed by the prostate, gastrointestinal tract, thyroid gland, breast, and liver. Mean survival from diagnosis of oral metastases was 8.25 months. CONCLUSION: Oral metastatic lesions are infrequent, can affect male and female patients equally, can manifest at any age, and may constitute the first manifestation of a still unidentified primary malignancy. According to the literature, bone metastases are more common than soft tissue metastases. Nevertheless, in the present series, there was a clear male predominance, and the oral metastases showed a predominance of mixed presentations followed by solely soft tissue lesions and solely bone metastases.

Synchronous metastatic adenoid cystic and squamous cell carcinoma of the cervical lymph nodes 31 years after ablation of the primary palatal tumour.

The coexistence of different types of malignancy in cervical lymph nodes has been reported previously. We report the first case, to the best of our knowledge, of concurrent metastatic adenoid cystic carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in cervical lymph nodes. A primary SCC developed three decades after treatment for adenoid cystic carcinoma of the palate, and the synchronous metastases became clinically apparent the following year. The aetiology of the SCC may have been related to radiotherapy or smoking. Whether the adenoid cystic carcinoma would have remained dormant, or was reactivated after perturbation of host defence mechanisms, is not known.

Late metastasis of an intracranial meningioma to the hard palate.

Meningiomas are benign neoplasms that arise from cellular elements of the meninges. Although meningiomas are usually considered as benign tumors, they have a potential to become aggressive and to metastasize to the extracranial structures. Distant metastasis most commonly occurs in lung, liver, and long bones. We present an extremely rare case of a delayed metastasis of a recurrent intracranial meningioma to the hard palate 19 years after the initial diagnosis. The patient underwent surgical excision without any complication and follow-up showed no recurrence.

Recurrent chordoma of the palate occurring in the surgical pathway: a case report.

We report a rare case of a female patient that developed a recurrence of a clival chordoma in the pathway of surgical access following prior resection. We review the world literature regarding surgical pathway recurrences. An 18-year-old female patient presented with a 4 cm x 3 cm mass in the midline of the hard palate. She had a history of a large clival chordoma resected via a transoral transpalatal approach 2 years previously. She was diagnosed as having a recurrence of the chordoma following implantation in the surgical pathway. She was treated with a transoral radical resection of the hard palate followed by a radial free forearm flap reconstruction. Chordomas are locally aggressive, slow growing tumors with a high local recurrence rate. A rare mechanism of treatment failure is recurrence along the pathway of surgical access. Only isolated cases of this phenomenon have been reported in the world literature. We review the world literature regarding surgical pathway recurrences.

Primary small cell carcinoma of the nasal cavity with an unusual oral manifestation.

Small cell carcinoma (SCC) is a malignancy that mainly occurs in the lung, with primary lesions in the head and neck being very rare. This neoplasm has an aggressive growth pattern, high recurrence rate, and tendency to metastasize to other sites via the lymphatics and bloodstream. The prognosis of patients with SCC is poor, as the 5-year survival is only 13%. Treatment options include surgical excision, multiple-agent chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. We report a rare case of primary SCC of the nasal cavity presenting as a lesion of the hard palate and describe its clinical, histologic, and immunohistochemical features.

Management of solitary palatal metastasis from renal cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: A 68-year-old male diagnosed with left-side renal cell carcinoma, and in clinical remission for 3 years following a nephrectomy, presented with a 2-month history of progressive difficulty in swallowing, accompanied by a new growth in the palate. Examination revealed a 25 mm x 25 mm soft-tissue growth at the junction of the hard and soft palate. Systemic examination did not reveal any other evidence of cancer progression. INVESTIGATIONS: CT scans, nasopharyngoscopy, fine-needle aspiration of palatal lesion and immunohistochemistry of biopsy specimen. DIAGNOSIS: Solitary palatal metastasis at the junction of the hard and soft palate from renal cell carcinoma. MANAGEMENT: Local, lesion-directed interferon therapy, repeat nasopharyngoscopy and regular clinical follow-up.

Carcinosarcoma of the palate: report of a case with a diagnosis of sarcomatoid metastasis by fine needle aspiration cytology.

BACKGROUND: Carcinosarcoma (sarcomatoid carcinoma) is a rare tumor with a high predilection for the aerodigestive tract. Cytologic diagnosis of metastatic carcinosarcoma has been reported in very few cases. CASE: An 84-year-old woman presented with a 2-cm-diameter, right cervical lymph node that was referred for fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). She had received radiotherapy for a palatal squamous cell carcinoma 2 years earlier. The FNAC smears had a sarcomatoid appearance. Repeat fine needle aspiration was performed, with cytologic and immunocytochemical staining. Careful consideration of the cytologic and immunophenotypic features led to an impression of carcinosarcoma. Histologic sections of the palatal biopsy that had been previously diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma were reviewed, and a final diagnosis of carcinosarcoma was established. CONCLUSION: Metastasis of rare lesions, such as carcinosarcoma may be confusing and difficult to diagnose on FNAC, especially when the cytologic sample shows a predominantly sarcomatoid component. The difficulty is compounded when the sarcomatoid component happens to have been overlooked on the initial histologic assessment. With representative cytologic sampling, immunocytochemical staining and review of the histologic material, the correct diagnosis was achieved in this case.

An undiagnosed case of malignancy: case report.

The following report describes the treatment carried out by a UK high street dental technician on an elderly patient with a large malignancy invading the oral cavity through the hard palate from the nose. The lesion remained undiagnosed during treatment for three months. The consequences of this error, and the future role of the clinical dental technician are discussed.

[Unusual metastasis of renal cell carcinoma. A case report with review of the literature]. / Ungewöhnliche Metastasierung eines Nierenzellkarzinoms. Ein Fallbericht mit Literaturübersicht.

BACKGROUND: The occurrence of metastasis of renal cell carcinomas in the head and neck region is extremely rare. Metastasis in the larynx, hypopharynx, and the nasal sinuses has been reported. We report here about a 55-year-old female with metastasis in the soft palate and tonsil, which occurred 10 years following tumor nephrectomy. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of metastasis in renal cell carcinomas can be observed even many years following initial curative treatment of the primary tumor. Although rare in the region of the head and neck, they can often be mistaken for benign tumors such as hemangiomas or inflammatory tissue. The treatment of choice is radical surgical resection.