Low-grade papillary adenocarcinoma of minor salivary glands. Case report and literature review.

Low-grade papillary adenocarcinoma of minor salivary glands is rare and tends to occur in the palate. This tumor has distinct but rather deceptive histomorphologic features, which may cause erroneous diagnosis. An extensive English-language literature review revealed reports of 22 well-documented low-grade papillary adenocarcinomas. Six of these tumors (27%) recurred locally between 12 months and 19 years after initial treatment. Low-grade papillary adenocarcinoma appears to have more aggressive biologic behavior compared with other low-grade adenocarcinomas in this region. Four of the reported cases (17%) had cervical lymph node metastases at the time of presentation. We report an additional case and discuss the literature.