Cribriform adenocarcinoma of minor salivary gland: A mimic of polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinoma

Polymorphous adenocarcinoma of the salivary glands: reappraisal and update

“…An apparent difference between PLGA (PAC, classical variant) and CAMSG is the pattern of metastasis: only 1 in 10 PLGA (PAC, classical variant) patients presents with nodal metastasis [28,29,47], as opposed to 7 in 10 patients with CAMSG [19]. In the latter, nodal disease can even be the first symptom [48]. As already noted, the particular site may account for this and the rich lymphatic network therein may also be significant [46].…”

“…2u, v). The microcystic aggregates may have an alternating cribriform or tubular architecture, with the latter displaying monolayered, secretion containing, similarly sized, luminal structures [10,17,48,84]. CAMSGs often invade the muscular tissue of the tongue and/or adjacent tissues and display lymphatic and occasionally also vascular invasion [19,20,69].…”

Historical Evolution of the Polymorphous Adenocarcinoma

“…Since then other cases of CATs with clinical followup have been reported in the literature and it has been recognized at other intraoral locations besides the tongue (Table 1) [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]. The latter has led to the proposed name cribriform adenocarcinoma of minor salivary gland origin (CAMSG) [36].…”

“…Regardless of the location the reported cases have aimed to highlight the importance of separating cribriform adenocarcinoma from PLGA due to its increased rate of lymph node metastasis. In summary, the published cases as CASG show a predilection to occur in the tongue; however tumors arising in the parotid and sinonasal tract have been described [27,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]. A key clinical feature that have been recurrently reported is that more than half of the patients have lymph node metastasis at time of presentation and in many instances a neck mass was the initial symptom of the patients [27,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47].…”

“…In summary, the published cases as CASG show a predilection to occur in the tongue; however tumors arising in the parotid and sinonasal tract have been described [27,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]. A key clinical feature that have been recurrently reported is that more than half of the patients have lymph node metastasis at time of presentation and in many instances a neck mass was the initial symptom of the patients [27,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]. The local recurrence rate and distant metastatic potential is rare and only two reported patients have died from disease [27,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47].…”