Salivary glands
Developmental disorders
Heterotopia
Author: F. Zahra Aly, M.D., Ph.D.
Last author update: 1 August 2011
Last staff update: 7 April 2021
Copyright: 2003-2025, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Heterotopia salivary glands[TIAB]
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Intranodal | Extranodal | Case reports | Additional referencesCite this page: Aly FZ Heterotopia. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/salivaryglandsheterotopia.html. Accessed January 16th, 2025.
Definition / general
- Also called ectopia
- Normal salivary gland tissue at a site where normally not present
- Usually in head and neck
- Due to abnormal persistence and development of vestigial structures, misplacement of salivary gland rests along embryologic pathways of migration during development or by salivary differentiation from remnants of primitive embryologic structures
- Intranodal (periparotid most common) or extranodal
- May undergo same pathologic processes as usual salivary gland tissue
- Most common neoplasm is Warthin tumor
Intranodal
- More common than extranodal
- In infants, most nodes within / near parotid gland contain salivary gland tissue, usually in medullary portion of node
- Frequent but less common in adults
- Usually composed of intercalated and intralobular ducts but also serous type acini and immature ducts
Extranodal
- May be high or low in head and neck
- High: mandible, mastoid bone, external and middle ear, tonsil, mylohyoid muscle, palatine tonsil, gingiva, pituitary gland, cerebellopontine angle; due to abnormalities in migration of embryonic tissue
- Low: related to bronchial pouches in lower neck, thyroid gland or parathyroid gland; most commonly at medial border of right sternocleidomastoid muscle near sternoclavicular joint
Case reports
- 53 year old woman with cerebellopontine angle solitary fibrous tumor with ectopic salivary gland tissue (Am J Surg Pathol 2004;28:139)
Additional references
