A case of papillary adenocarcinoma arising on the left apex of the tongue

A papillary adenocarcinoma with metastasis occurred in a 68-year old man. The neoplasma arose on the left apex of the tongue and metastasized to both neck lymph nodes. A partial glossectomy, marginal resection of the mandible and total neck dissection of both sides of the neck were performed. Histopathologic examination showed that the tumor was papillary adenocarcinoma, which invaded into deep muscle tissues and adjacent minor salivary glands but not in to the sublingual gland. In addition, metastatic papillary adenocarcinoma of 10 lymph nodes in the remaining 26 left cervical lymph nodes and 1 lymp node in the remaining 16 right cervical lymph nodes were observed.To clarify whether papillary adenocarcinoma of the tongue originated in the minor salivary gland or cc topic thyroid gland the immunohistochemical method was applied with the result that amylase (salivary type) was positive but thyroglobulin was negative. TI use results including clinical manifestation indicated that tumor originated in the minor salivary gland.