Vallecular acinic cell carcinoma in a 9-year-old girl: report of an unusual case

An unusual case of acinic cell tumour of the vallecula is presented. Acinic cell carcinoma occurs usually in the major salivary glands. Minor salivary gland location is unusual and vallecular origin exceptional. This peculiar histologic tumour should now be classified as an low grade carcinoma and a dequate treatment has to be initiated. The patient, a 9-year-old girl, had undergone a suprahyoid access for total tumor removal with a bilateral neck exploration. Postsurgical radiotherapy has to be done in case with perineu ral invasion, invaded margins, node invasion or high grade tumor. The clini cal and histopathological findings are discussed in the light of the litera ture. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.