Ectomesenchymal chondromyxoid tumor of the anterior tongue. Report of two cases.

The ectomesenchymal chondromyxoid tumor (ECT) of the tongue is a recently proposed entity that presents clinically as a slow-growing, painless, firm, submucosal nodule of the anterior dorsum of the tongue. The lesion is histologically characterized by a well-circumscribed lobular proliferation of ovoid and round cells growing in net-like sheets in a chondromyxoid background; there may be scattered multilobulated nuclei and occasional foci of atypia. The tumor is characterized immunophenotypically by a mesenchymal and neurogenic profile with positivity for vimentin, S-100, and GFAP. The tumor is negative for epithelial markers like keratins and CEA. The aforementioned clinicopathologic features of ECT of the anterior tongue seem to be sufficiently distinctive to warrant its recognition as an entity. Two cases of ECT are reported.