BASAL-CELL ADENOCARCINOMA OF THE PAROTID-GLAND - A CASE-REPORT WITH IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL, ULTRASTRUCTURAL FINDINGS AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

In 1967 the term basal cell adenoma was introduced by Kleinsasser and Klein(1) to designate a histopathologic variant of monomorphic adenoma s of salivary gland origin, This neoplasm was composed of relatively u niform, monotonous, basaloid-appearing cells that lacked the myxoid, c hondroid, and mesenchymal-like component of the pleomorphic adenoma. O ver the following several years, pathologists at the Armed Forces Inst itute of Pathology (AFIP) began to recognize neoplasms that had the cy tomorphologic features of these basal cell adenomas but manifested gro wth characteristics that placed them among the malignant salivary glan d neoplasms. Although there had been a few references in the literatur e to malignant tumors with these cytomorphologic features, it remained for Ellis and Wiscovitch(2) to define the clinicopathologic features of these lesions, which they labeled basal cell adenocarcinomas. Basal cell adenocarcinoma is now universally recognized as a malignant sali vary gland neoplasm and, as such, has recently been added to the class ification of the World Health Organization.(3) Reports of basal cell a denocarcinoma are extremely rare, with only 42 cases appearing in the English literature at this time. The following is a report of a case o f basal cell adenocarcinoma of the parotid with the electron microscop ic findings and a review of the literature. This is the first report, to our knowledge, that describes the ultrastructural findings in a cas e of basal cell adenocarcinoma of salivary gland.