Vol.95 No.2 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 95 No. 2 February 2002
A Case of Melanotic Oncocytic Metaplasia of the Nasopharynx
Yuji Imate, Norio Shimizu, Tomoko Nakano, Nobuchika Ono,
Tetsuya Tahara and Hiroshi Yamashita
(Yamaguchi University)
Shigeko Takemoto
(Ube Kosan Central Hospital)
Keiko Kanesada
(Nonohana Clinic)
We report a case of melanotic oncocytic metaplasia. The lesion was incidentally detected in the nasopharynx of a 60-year-old woman. Fiberscopic examination revealed small multiple brown-pigmented nodules at the pharyngeal openings of the auditory tube on both sides. Microscopically, the lesion showed the grandular pattern of melanin-containing oncocytes. The nodules on the left side, which were larger than those on the right side, were removed using forceps. Such a pigmented variant of benign oncoytic lesion is very rare.
Key words : oncocytic metaplasia, nasopharynx, melanin