Carcinosarcoma of the submandibular salivary gland. Immunohistochemical findings.

Carcinosarcomas of the salivary glands are rare lesions that generally have been associated with benign mixed tumors. The authors report a case of a submandibular gland lesion, which occurred in a 64-year-old man, that was composed of intermingled ductal type adenocarcinoma and osteogenic sarcoma with a large component of osteoclast-like giant cells. The local recurrence of the tumor was entirely sarcomatous with no epithelial component observed. There was no histologic evidence of a preexisting or coexisting pleomorphic adenoma. Immunohistochemical studies confirmed two separate populations of tumor cells, corresponding to the histologic growth pattern. The authors review the literature and discuss histogenetic implications of distinction between de novo carcinosarcoma and carcinosarcoma in association with pleomorphic adenoma.