Necrotizing Sialometaplasia of the Hard Palate: A Rare Entity of Dilemma on Cytology, Confirmatory on Histopathology.

Necrotizing sialometaplasia is a rare, benign reactive necrotizing lesion, involving sites where salivary gland tissue is usually present. The importance of this lesion is that it mimics malignancy clinically leading to treatments ranging from conservative excision to total maxillectomy. Cytologically and histologically also the lesion is often confused with neoplasms. We present a case of a lady with a hard palatal swelling, which was non - ulcerative unlike typical cases of necrotizing sialometaplsia. FNAC features made us strongly suspect a low grade mucoepidermiod carcinoma, following which the swelling was excised. Histopathology came to the rescue, on which the final diagnosis of necrotizing sialometaplasia of the hard palate was made. Necrotizing siaometaplasia is often misdiagnosed by the inexperienced cytologist, with histopathological examination being confirmatory. We also emphasize the fact that lesions like necrotizing sialometaplasia need a high degree of suspicion along with clinical co relation before subjecting the patient to unnecessary surgical procedures.