Bilateral Nonneoplastic Heterotopic Submandibular Glands Discovered Postmortem: A Case Study

The submandibular glands are salivary glands located under the mandible that secrete saliva into the oral cavity. The occurrence of heterotopic submandibular glands is an uncommon anatomical variation that is usually found unilaterally. There are few known reports of bilateral heterotopic submandibular glands; this paper describes a rare case of bilateral heterotopic submandibular glands that were discovered incidentally during routine dissection of a cadaver for medical education purposes and subsequent histological examination. The heterotopic glands were located in the carotid triangle at the level of the hyoid bone and appeared to receive blood supply from the facial artery and innervation from the facial nerve, similar to that of typical submandibular glands in normal anatomical location. Venous drainage was into the facial vein and communicating jugular vein. Dissection of each bilateral heterotopic submandibular gland revealed a duct oriented toward the oral cavity, suggesting that it was a functional salivary gland. Histological analysis of the glands and nearby deep cervical chain lymph nodes revealed normal salivary gland and lymph node structure, with no evidence of neoplasia. Encountering such anatomical variations during cadaveric dissection as part of medical education is an irreplaceable learning experience that increases the understanding of pathologies and clinical competency.