Primary mucoepidermoid carcinoma of an intraparotid lymph node

The parotid gland is the most common site (59% to 70%) of all mucoepidermoid carcinomas.!? However, mucoepidermoid carcinoma rarely occurs in cervical and parotid lymph nodes in the absence of a primary lesion elsewhere."!' Smith et al'? and Adkins et alii have described primary lesions arising in intraparotid lymph nodes. Albrecht et al 12 have suggested that such lesions result from heterotopic salivary gland entrapped in the lymph nodes. We present a case of primary mu­ coepidermoid carcinoma arising in an intraparotid lymph node and review the cases of primary and met­ astatic mucoepidermoid carcinoma of intraparotid lymph nodes reported in the literature.