A case of mucoepidermoid tumor in maxilla tuberosity

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Vol. 33; no. 6; pp. 1184 - 1190
• Main Authors: MUROKI, Toshimi, NAKAGAWA, Kiyomasa, FUJIMOTO, Eisuke, TAMAI, Kenzo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japanese Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons 1987
• Subjects: maxilla tuberosity; monomorphic adenoma; mucoepidermoid tumor
• ISSN: 0021-5163; 2186-1579
• DOI: 10.5794/jjoms.33.1184

Mucoepidermoid tumor was first decribed as a distinctive entity by Stewart, Foote and Becker, who reported 45 cases in some 700 major and minor salivary glands tumors. Stewart and his colleagues originally considered that benign and malignant varieties of the mucoepidermoid tumor could be distinguished, but subsequently felt that all tumors of this type bear malignant potentialities. A distinction, however, can be made in a very general way between tumors likely to be of a low grade of malignancy and those that will probably be of higher grade malignancy; many low grade tumors are locally invasive only; they do not metastasis or recur if adequately excised. Generally, the prognosis for mucoepidermoid tumor is good. Except for those few tumors that grow rapidly and invade widly, the vast majority that display the characteristic indolent growth pattern may be cured by radical removal. In case of distant spread, the cervical lymph nodes are the usual site of metastasis. Visceral metastasis may also occur. The essential diagnosis features for mucoepidermoid tumor are epidermoid cell presence and mucus secretion. Mucoepidermoid tumor in which clear cells are present may cause difficulty. However, only when almost the entire tumor shows clear cells among cells of otherwise usual epidermoid appearance is the confirmation of the diagnosis helped since this type of hydropic change, when it occurs is very characteristic. When the tumor consists almost entirely of clear cell types monomorphic adenoma and acinic cell tumor as well as metastasis of renal carcinoma must be considered. We recently experienced one case of mucoepidermoid tumor considered to have occurred in the maxilla tuberosity in a 52-year-old man and reported on it which some comments based on the literature.