A Case Report of Tongue Lymphoepithelial Carcinoma with a Histological Diagnostic Dilemma

Most head and neck lymphoepithelial carcinomas (LECs) arise in the nasopharynx and harbor Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). LEC is also a rare subtype of the oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Morphologically, LEC is defined as resembling non-keratinizing nasopharyngeal carcinoma, undifferentiated subtype....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Diagnostics (Basel) 2021-06, Vol.11 (6), p.1039
Main Authors: Takeda, Daisuke, Shigeoka, Manabu, Sugano, Tenyu, Yatagai, Nanae, Hasegawa, Takumi, Akashi, Masaya
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biopsy
Cancer
Case Report
Case reports
Conflicts of interest
EBER negative
Epstein-Barr virus
histopathological diagnosis
Hypotheses
Infections
Informed consent
Lymphatic system
lymphoepithelial carcinoma
Medical prognosis
Metastasis
Morphology
oral cavity
Pathogenesis
Radiation therapy
Tongue
tongue cancer
Tumors
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Summary:Most head and neck lymphoepithelial carcinomas (LECs) arise in the nasopharynx and harbor Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). LEC is also a rare subtype of the oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Morphologically, LEC is defined as resembling non-keratinizing nasopharyngeal carcinoma, undifferentiated subtype. The histological features and pathogenesis of oral LEC are not established. We describe a case of tongue LEC with histopathological diagnostic difficulties. A 72-year-old Japanese female presented with a whitish change on her left-side tongue. The diagnosis was atypical epithelium; neoplastic change could not be ruled out by a biopsy. Although the lesion was monitored at our hospital per her request, invasive carcinoma was detected 11 months later. Microscopically, conventional SCC was observed with the characteristic features as LEC confined to the deep part of the lesion. We briefly discuss this unusual histological finding and make a novel proposal for distinguishing oral LEC from LECs in other regions based on these histological findings.
ISSN:2075-4418
2075-4418
DOI:10.3390/diagnostics11061039