Histopathological classification of 272 primary epithelial tumors of the lacrimal gland.

272 primary epithelial gland tumors were classified pathologically. These tumors were sampled from 70% of 390 lacrimal fossa lesions out of 1530 orbital tumors from one hospital. Benign mixed tumors ranked the first in frequency (52%) to be followed by adenocystic carcinomas (25%) and malignant mixed tumors (9%). From the other less common tumor types, we identified, for the first time 3 polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinomas, 2 spindle celled myoepitheliomas and one carcinosarcoma of the lacrimal gland. The diagnosis and differential diagnosis of polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinoma and spindle cell myoepithelioma were discussed.