D. Vinette-leduc et al., Metastatic salivary duct carcinoma to the uterus: Report of a case diagnosed by cervical smear, DIAGN CYTOP, 21(4), 1999, pp. 271-275
Metastasis to the uterus from extragenital sites is uncommon. We report on
a rare case of salivary duct carcinoma (SDC) of the parotid gland with meta
stasis to the uterus, diagnosed by cervical smear. To the best of our knowl
edge, this is the first case reported in the literature.
A 61-yr-old woman with a prior diagnosis of SDC was admitted to hospital wi
th a fractured left humerus, back pain, and vaginal bleeding. A cervical sm
ear and an endometrial aspiration were performed.
The cervical smear showed numerous fragments and many isolated tumor cells
in a clean background. The tumor cells were large and had abundant, granula
r/vacuolated cytoplasm. The nuclei were slightly pleomorphic, with fine chr
omatin and 1-2 small nucleoli The malignant cells were morphologically iden
tical to the primary tumor and correlated with the tumor in the endometrial
aspiration. A diagnosis of metastatic salivary duct carcinoma was made.
Although metastatic SDC to the uterus is rare, this possibility should be c
onsidered in the differential diagnosis of a positive cervical smear: This
case also illustrates the importance of appropriate clinical history, inclu
ding the knowledge of a primary tumor which may prevent unnecessary clinica
l investigations. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.