Case ReportsSclerosing rhabdomyosarcoma of the parotid gland in an adult
Introduction
Primary rhabdomyosarcoma of salivary glands is an extremely rare neoplasm that usually occurs in the pediatric age group. In a series of 67 cases of primary sarcoma and sarcomatoid neoplasms of salivary glands from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (Washington, DC), there were 6 cases of rhabdomyosarcoma [1]. In another smaller series from MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX), there were 2 cases of the latter tumor among 11 salivary gland primary sarcoma cases [2]. Recently, a new very rare subtype of rhabdomyosarcoma of soft tissue in adults has been described with particular emphasis on its possible confusion with some other types of sarcomas such as angiosarcoma, osteo- and chondrosarcoma, and so on. It was named first as sclerosing pseudovascular rhabdomyosarcoma and subsequently as sclerosing rhabdomyosarcoma in adults [3], [4]. After these 2 initial reports, 4 more reports appeared in the literature, presenting 7 additional adult cases [5], [6], [7], [8]. Pediatric cases were also reported [8], [9], [10], [11]. To the best of our knowledge, no occurrence of sclerosing rhabdomyosarcoma in salivary glands has so far been reported in English literature. Herewith, we report on a case of such a sarcoma in a parotid gland in an adult patient that was originally diagnosed as myxofibrosarcoma.
Section snippets
Clinical history
The patient was a 60-year-old man with a swelling in the right parotid gland region of 1-year duration. Repeated fine-needle aspiration biopsies were performed with no conclusive results. The first cytology was suspicious for a malignant tumor, and in the repeated one, chronic inflammation was evident, but with some disturbing atypical cells. Subsequent total parotidectomy was performed. Because the tumor was microscopically present in resection margins, the patient was postoperatively
Discussion
The tumor described in our case represents a new recently described variant of adult rhabdomyosarcoma for which a name sclerosing rhabdomyosarcoma was first proposed by Folpe et al [4]. In this publication, it was acknowledged that a previous study of the so-called sclerosing, pseudovascular rhabdomyosarcoma in adults by Mentzel and Katenkamp [3], dealt with the same type of rhabdomyosarcoma. Both small series described 7 cases altogether. In 3 of these cases, the tumor occurred in a head and
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