A Case of Carcinosarcoma of the Parotid Gland / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

Carcinosarcoma is an extremely rare tumor, composed of a mixture of both carcinomatous and sarcomatous elements. The two-thirds are derived from the parotid gland. Because carcinosarcoma is highly aggressive malignant tumor with high local recurrence and poor survival rates, the combination of radical surgical excision and chemotherapy or radiotherapy is regarded as treatment of choice. However, treatment protocol has not been established. A 73-year-old man presented with a painful mass in the left parotid gland that had been rapidly enlarging for 2 weeks. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy was performed and it showed atypical epithelium. Superficial parotidectomy and modified radical neck dissection were performed for the left parotid gland cancer. The pathological diagnosis was carcinosarcoma and sequential chemoradiotherapy was performed. After a clinical follow-up of 30 months, he has remained free of disease. Based on our experience, we suggest that conservative surgical procedure could be one of the effective therapies.