Basal Cell Adenocarcinoma of the Parotid Gland

Abstract

Basal cell adenocarcinoma is low grade malignancy so named in 1990 by Ellis and Wiskovitch. The basal cell adenocarcinomas are rare, accounting for 1-2% of epithelial salivary malignancies. Roughly 77% of them arise de novo with 23% arising within preexisting basal cell adenomas. It is considered as the malign counterpart of the basal cell adenoma. Histological differentiation between the two is difficult and they are often discriminated only by the invasion of local structures or perineural/vascular invasion. It is necessary to differentiate basal cell adenocarcinoma from other basaloid cell tumors of the salivary glands as in the following examples: solid tubuler variant of adenoid cystic carcinoma, polymorphous low grade adenocarcinoma, basaloid type of squamous cell carcinoma, basaloid variant of ameloblastoma and small cell carcinoma for the prognosis and potential differences in the treatment. The standard treatment is wide local excision with or without postoperative radiotherapy. In this article, we present a 75-year-old-female with basal cell adenocarcinoma involving the parotid gland.