Intraductal carcinoma of major salivary gland

The clinicopathologic features of the cases of three patients with intraductal carcinoma of major salivary gland are described. As in the breast, these lesions of salivary ducts appear to represent an in situ or preinvasive phase of the disease. On follow-up, one patient had a local recurrence, and in another patient, the tumor subsequently became invasive. This experience suggests that wide surgical excision (preferably total parotidectomy) may be curative but that resections limited to grossly visible disease will result in local recurrence and/or the development of invasive ductal adenocarcinoma.