Unusual metastatic presentations of a primary right parapharyngeal acinic cell adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Acinic cell adenocarcinoma (ACA) is a malignant epithelial neoplasm of the salivary glands. The patient reported herein presented with an unusual case of a metastatic ACA originating from the right parapharyngeal region, which eventually metastasized to the ipsilateral cavernous sinus and the contralateral mandibular ramus. The trigeminal nerve may have served as a channel for the spread of the cancer from the right parapharyngeal region to the cavernous sinus, and subsequently to the left mandibular ramus. The widening of the left inferior alveolar nerve canal was an early sign of metastasis in this case.