Fine-needle aspiration of metastatic nonlymphomatous tumors to the major salivary glands: a clinicopathologic study of 40 cases cytologically diagnosed and histologically correlated.

Abstract

Metastatic tumors to the salivary glands are common, but documentation in the cytologic literature has been limited. The current study presents the authors' experience with fine-needle aspiration (FNA) in metastatic nonlymphomatous tumors to the salivary glands. From a retrospective review of 1675 salivary gland lesions (1535 patients), the authors collected 40 salivary gland lesions (39 patients who had histories of extrasalivary cancer) that were diagnosed cytologically as metastases to the salivary glands and were correlated histologically. FNAs of 34 parotid gland and 6 submandibular gland tumors were performed. The cytologic diagnoses of metastases of squamous cell carcinoma (15 cases), melanoma (12 cases), carcinoma (5 cases), rhabdomyosarcoma (3 cases), and retinoblastoma (2 cases) were confirmed (95%) histologically. Two (5%) FNAs were false-negative. In patients who had a history of extrasalivary cancer, cytology examination was very helpful and sufficient for adequate patient management.