Salivary Duct Carcinoma of the Minor Salivary Glands

Abstract Salivary duct carcinoma is characterised by aggressive behaviour, with a high risk of local recurrence, and regional and distant metastasis. This report describes a patient with salivary duct carcinoma that originated in the minor salivary glands of the mucosa over the maxilla. Microscopically, vascular invasion varied from 4 to 5 per 10 high-power fields, and immunohistochemical staining with E26 transformation specific-1 was demonstrated in the tumour cells. Ki67 positivity was also revealed in 52% of the specimens examined. These results suggest that salivary duct carcinoma is a highly aggressive malignant salivary gland tumour due to proliferative cell activity, angiogenesis, and vascular invasion.