Vol.95 No.7 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 95 No. 7 July 2002
Three Cases of Recurrent Polymorphous Low
Grade Adenocarcinoma
Yasuyuki Hiratsuka, Ryo Asato, Shinzo Tanaka,
Hisayoshi Kojima and Juichi Ito
(Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine)
Rie Tanaka
(Shimada Municipal Hospital)
Polymorphous low grade adenocarcinoma (PLGA) is a low grade malignant neoplasm usually arising in the oral minor salivary gland. The prognosis of the disease has been reported to be excellent. There are some cases, however, which suffer from uncontrollable tumors. We report 3 cases of persistent or recurrent PLGA.
Case 1: a 68-year-old woman first presented with a tumor in the soft palate at age 33. The tumor had recurred 4 times and had metastasized to the lung. Finally, the persistent tumor invaded the cavernous sinus. Palliative radiation therapy was carried out. Case 2: a 46-year-old man presented with a mass on the hard palate at age 29. In spite of several complete resections, the tumor has relapsed 4 times. Case 3: a 66-year-old woman presented with a left parotid tumor at age 50. Enucleation of the tumor was performed initially. It then recurred twice. Partial parotidectomy and extirpation of the recurrent tumor followed by postoperative irradiation was performed.
Although PLGA is a low grade malignancy, resection with sufficient surgical margin should be considered, and careful follow-up over a long period is important.
Key words : recurrence, polymorphous low grade adenocarcinoma, salivary gland, radiation therapy, follow-up