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78th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

16.05. - 20.05.2007, Munich

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Ectopic Warthin’s tumor presented as a neck mass

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  • corresponding author Iordanis Konstantinidis - Papageorgiou General Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece
  • Evagelia Tsakiropoulou - Veria General Hospital, Veria, Greece
  • Josef Vital - Veria General Hospital, Veria, Greece
  • Jannis Constantinidis - AHEPA University Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece
  • Athina Kotsani - Veria General Hospital, Veria, Greece

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie. 78. Jahresversammlung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie e.V.. München, 16.-20.05.2007. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2007. Doc07hnod139

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hnod2007/07hnod139.shtml

Published: April 24, 2007

© 2007 Konstantinidis et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Introduction: Warthin's tumor is the second most common salivary gland tumour preceded only by pleomorphic adenoma. In most cases it involves the parotid gland. It can also arise in ectopic salivary tissue in the latero-cervical lymph nodes or other unusual sites like nasopharynx, larynx, and paranasal sinuses.

Case report: We present a case of a 60 year old man with a 6 months history of a smooth, mobile neck mass of the right side. Computed tomography scan showed a cystic lesion in the right upper neck without connection with the major salivary glands (6 x 4 x 3 cm). Complete surgical excision with a transverse neck incision was performed. Histological findings of the specimen revealed Warthin's tumor.

Conclusion: This neoplasm should always be included in the differential diagnosis of cystic lesions of the neck, as 8% of Warthin's tumors are presented in extraparotid location mainly as neck masses. Surgeons should always consider the potential malignant transformation of the tumor.