LYMPHOEPITHELIOMA: (SCHMINCKE TUMOR)

Lymphoepithelioma of the mesenchymal tissue is exceedingly rare. However, the clinician is occasionally confronted with this condition, whose early recognition and prompt irradiation are essential for a cure. In 1921 Reverchon and Coutard reported from Regaud's Clinic a neoplasm of the hypopharynx, and independently in the same year Schmincke reported a series of cases. The name given by them to the condition was derived from the fact that the tumor appears to arise from organs in which there is abundant lymphocytic infiltration of the submucosa. The primary growth is, therefore, not necessarily limited to the tonsils or to the nasopharynx but may be found wherever there are lymphoid collections. The thymus gland belongs embryologically to the same group of lymphoepithelial organs, and neoplasms of similar structure in this gland have been recorded by various investigators (Symmers and Vance, Herriman, and Rahte, Laas and Wu). In the past sixteen years nearly