Pericardial effusion secondary to mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid gland. A report of an unusual case.

This paper reports a unique case of malignant pericardial effusion secondary to metastatic mucoepidermoid carcinoma in a patient who previously had mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid gland and subsequently was found to have a hypernephroma of the kidney. Its distinctive features warranted the diagnosis of mucoepidermoid carcinoma as the cause of the effusion, and excluded the more aggressive hypernephroma. Although pericardectomy was ultimately necessary, there was no evidence of viable malignancy in fluid specimens obtained after an initial course of radiation therapy or in the resected pericardium. This suggests that conservative treatment with local radiation therapy might be successful in future cases of pericardial effusion in this malignancy.