Salivary glands
Primary salivary gland neoplasms
Malignant
Lymphoepithelial carcinoma
Author: Adriana Handra-Luca, M.D., Ph.D.
Last author update: 1 September 2012
Last staff update: 7 March 2023
Copyright: 2003-2025, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: lymphoepithelial carcinoma salivary [title]
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Clinical features | Case reports | Microscopic (histologic) description | Positive stains | Negative stainsCite this page: Handra-Luca A. Lymphoepithelial carcinoma. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/salivaryglandsLEL.html. Accessed April 3rd, 2025.
Definition / general
- Undifferentiated carcinoma common / familial in the Inuit and Chinese; presents as unilateral mass of parotid gland, submandibular gland or minor salivary glands in adults
Clinical features
- May be associated with uterine lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma
- Metastases common to regional lymph nodes; distant metastases to liver, lung, bone
- Treatment with surgery and radiotherapy; relatively good outcome (Br J Radiol 2006;79:52)
Case reports
- 29 year old woman with submandibular gland tumor (Chin Med J (Engl) 2006;119:1315)
- 50 year old woman with EBV+, c-kit+ tumor (Head Neck 2006;28:182)
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Malignant epithelial islands resembling nonkeratinizing large cell carcinoma and lymphoid tissue with germinal centers
- Occasional spindled areas
- Often perineurial invasion
- May have starry sky pattern, granuloma, amyloid; no benign lymphoepithelial lesion
Positive stains
Negative stains
