Abstract

Lymphoepithelial carcinoma is a rare subtype of undifferentiated carcinoma in the salivary gland. The incidence of lymphoepithelial carcinoma is about 0.4% among the patients with major salivary gland tumors. It has a racial preference; about 75% of the patients are of Mongolian ancestry. We report a case of lymphoepithelial carcinoma arising in the left parotid gland of a 52-year-old man. Grossly, the tumor was relatively well demarcated, gray-white, and solid. Microscopically, the irregular shaped syncytial tumor cell islands were evident within lymphoplasma cell-rich and desmoplastic stroma. The carcinoma cells had large vesicular nuclei and prominent nucleoli. The tumor invaded the surrounding salivary gland tissue. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was demonstrated by in situ hybridization for EBV-encoded RNA-1 (EBER-1) and polymerase chain reaction for EBV nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA-1).

• Keywords: Lymphoepithelial carcinoma;Salivary gland;Epstein-Barr virus;