Zeitschrift für klinische und experimentelle Onkologie

Central Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Seyedmajidi M and Foroughi R

Mucoepidermoid carcinoma is one of the most common malignancies of the salivary glands. Central mucoepidermoid carcinomas are extremely rare in the jaws, representing about 2 to 4% of all mucoepidermoid carcinomas. The case presented is a 43 year old woman with central mucoepidermoid carcinoma on the left side of the mandible. She did not visit surgeon for further treatment and died due to heart disease after 3 months. Although more than 100 cases have been reported in the literature, its etiopathogenesis has centered on the pluripotential capabilities of the epithelial lining of odontogenic cysts but our patient did not give a prior history of either cyst enucleation or tumor resection in the same region. It
seems that this tumor originated from retromolar mucous glands entrapped or embryonic remnants of the submandibular salivary gland within the mandibular bone which subsequently underwent neoplastic transformation.