Fine-needle aspiration biopsy of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma of the parotid: a case report and review of the literature.

The cytologic features of an alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma arising within the parotid gland are described. The occurrence of this neoplasm as a primary malignancy in the parotid gland is very rare, and the tumor is usually not included in the cytologic differential diagnosis of parotid tumors. The diagnosis of the current case was achieved by a combination of fine-needle aspiration biopsy and frozen sections. Realizing the difficulty of recognizing this tumor both histologically and cytologically, we present this case to increase the awareness of this tumor's occurrence within the parotid gland and other salivary glands, and to highlight cytomorphologic features that will aid the pathologist in making the correct diagnosis.