Sentinel lymph node biopsy in adenocarcinoma of minor salivary gland

SummaryAdenocarcinoma of the minor salivary gland (MSG) is a rare neoplasm. It represents about 2% of all MSG malignant tumours. It is more common in the palate and in females. This tumour occurs in a mean age of sixty and its mean size at presentation is 1.5 cm. Microscopically, the neoplasms classified as adenocarcinoma not otherwise specified (NOS) are a histologically heterogeneous group: they vary from highly anaplastic adenocarcinoma to moderate and well-differentiated lesions. This report describes a case of adenocarcinoma of MSG occurring in the buccal mucosa of a 24-year-old male. The patient underwent a sentinel node biopsy as a staging tool in association with the primary surgical treatment. In the histological examination of sentinel lymph node (SLN) there was no evidence of metastatic disease. The patient presents no evidence of recurrent disease after 4 years of follow-up. We believe that the use of SLN biopsy can be indicated in similar cases considering the tumoural biology (well-differentiated) because prospective randomized studies would be very difficult to be performed due to the rarity of this neoplasm.