Salivary glands
Primary salivary gland neoplasms
Benign
Sialadenoma papilliferum
Author: Adriana Handra-Luca, M.D., Ph.D.
Last author update: 1 September 2012
Last staff update: 8 March 2021
Copyright: 2003-2025, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Sialadenoma papilliferum salivary
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Clinical features | Case reports | Gross description | Microscopic (histologic) description | Microscopic (histologic) images | Positive stains | Negative stains | Electron microscopy description | Differential diagnosisCite this page: Handra-Luca A. Sialadenoma papilliferum. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/salivaryglandssialadenoma.html. Accessed April 3rd, 2025.
Definition / general
- Rare benign biphasic tumor with exophytic squamous component and endophytic glandular component
- Well differentiated papillary hyperplastic squamous epithelium covering ductal component of cleft-like cystic spaces lined by cuboidal or columnar epithelium with occasional goblet cells
- First described by Abrams in 1969 (Cancer 1969;24:1057)
Clinical features
- Usually hard palate (Arch Pathol Lab Med 2001;125:1595) or parotid gland of men over 40 years; also children (Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 2007;103:e51)
- Painless
- Tends to recur after excision
Case reports
- 65 year old man with parotid tumor (Head Neck 2013;35:E74)
- 79 year old woman with malignant transformation of sialadenoma papilliferum of the palate (Virchows Arch 2004;445:641)
- 82 year old woman with mucoepidermoid carcinoma arising in a background of sialadenoma papilliferum (Head Neck Pathol 2009;3:59)
- Recurrence in buccal mucosa 3 years after excision (J Laryngol Otol 1995;109:787)
Gross description
- Well circumscribed, round / oval, papillary tumor of mucosal surface
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Biphasic, with well differentiated papillary hyperplastic squamous epithelium covering ductal component of cleft-like cystic spaces lined by cuboidal or columnar epithelium with occasional goblet cells
- Variable oncocytes and squamous metaplasia, dysplasia and in situ carcinoma in exophytic component (Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 2007;104:e27)
- Has malignant counterpart or evolves to mucoepidermoid carcinoma or epithelial myoepithelial carcinoma with high grade carcinoma
Microscopic (histologic) images
Images hosted on other servers:
Floor of mouth tumor
Mucoepidermoid carcinoma arising in a background of sialadenoma papilliferum
Positive stains
- Squamous epithelium and ductal structures: CK7, AE1 / AE3, CEA, EMA
- Ductal structures: also CAM 5.2, S100
- Also CK8, CK19 (Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2004;33:621)
- One study identified 2 subsets of basally located cells:
- Positive for CK14, S100, GFAP, vimentin and smooth muscle actin - similar to myoepithelial cells
- CK13+ and CK14+ only (J Oral Pathol Med 1996;25:336)
Negative stains
Electron microscopy description
- Oncocyte is predominant cell; contains numerous mitochondria, parallel filaments within cell cytoplasm attached by desmosomes (Arch Pathol Lab Med 1986;110:523)
Differential diagnosis
