HEAD AND NECK ONCOLOGY Ender Guclu Æ Fatih Oghan Æ Ozcan Ozturk Murat Alper Æ Erol Egeli A rare malignancy of the parotid gland: oncocytic carcinoma Received: 4 April 2004 / Accepted: 15 September 2004 / Published online: 9 December 2004 Ó Springer-Verlag 2004 Abstract Oncocytic carcinomas are uncommon; they represent 11% of all oncocytic salivary gland neoplasms, 0.5% of all epithelial salivary gland malignancies and 0.18% of all epithelial salivary gland tumors. A 65-year- old woman was admitted to our ENT clinic with a his- tory of a painless left preauricular mass. No lymph node was palpable on either side of her neck. Computed tomography demonstrated a 3·3-cm solid lesion in the left parotid gland. As oncocytes and atypical cells were seen at the cytologic examination of a fine-needle aspi- ration biopsy, this finding suggested a malignant epi- thelial tumor. Total parotidectomy by preserving the facial nerve was performed. The result of the pathologic examination was oncocytic carcinoma regarding histo- pathologic and immunohistochemical findings and especially the invasive growth pattern. We preferred a close follow-up to an elective neck dissection, and re- served the neck dissection for a recurrence. The prog- nosis of oncocytic carcinomas is not well known because of their low incidence. Further investigation of the prognosis of patients with oncocytic carcinoma of the parotid gland is warranted as more cases are reported. Keywords Oncocyte Æ Oncocytic carcinoma Æ Parotid gland Introduction Oncocytes are large, granular, eosinophilic epithelial cells mainly found in glandular tissue, including that of the salivary glands and thyroid. Oncocytomas that originate from oncocytes are very rare neoplasms that account for less than 1% of all salivary gland tumors [8]. Oncocytic carcinomas are even more uncommon; they represent 11% of all oncocytic salivary gland neoplasms, 0.5% of all epithelial salivary gland malignancies and 0.18% of all epithelial salivary gland tumors [9]. The terms oncocytic carcinoma, oncocytic adenocarcinoma, malignant oncocytoma and malignant oxyphilic adenoma are syn- onymous [6]. Besides these defined neoplasms, there are other entities that are not well identified oncocytic changes of the parotid gland, such as oncocytic meta- plasia, diffuse oncocytosis, nodular oncocytosis and multifocal nodular oncocytic hyperplasia (MNOH) and also oncocytic metaplasia within other salivary gland tumors such as the Warthin’s tumor [1]. Oncocytic carcinoma of salivary gland origin is rare. Bauer and Bauer [3] reported the first case in 1953, and only 41 cases had been reported in the English-language literature [1, 2, 5, 6, 12] by the end of 2002. This neo- plasm has been reported to occur in the nasal and tho- racic cavities, ovary, kidney, thyroid gland, salivary gland [9], breast and parathyroid [8]. Most cases of oncocytic carcinoma have occurred in the parotid glands, but recent reports have described tumors that involved the submandibular gland and minor glands of the palate, nasal cavity and ethmoid and maxillary sinuses [8, 13]. In the present article, we de- scribe a new case of oncocytic carcinoma that arose in the left parotid gland. Case report A 65-year-old woman was admitted to our ENT clinic with a history of a painless left preauricular mass that E. Guclu Æ F. Oghan (&) Æ O. Ozturk Æ E. Egeli Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Abant Izzet Baysal Faculty of Medicine, 81620 Konuralp/Duzce, Turkey E-mail: fatihoghan@hotmail.com Tel.: +90-535-8416187 Fax: +90-380-5414213 M. Alper Department of Pathology, University of Abant Izzet Baysal Faculty of Medicine, 81620 Konuralp/Duzce, Turkey Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol (2005) 262: 567–569 DOI 10.1007/s00405-004-0871-4