[A case of palatal polymorphous low grade adenocarcinoma]

We present a 58-year-old male patient with bilateral cheek swelling and an extraorally protruding tumor who has had deaf mutism since birth. He underwent surgery of the right hard palate 11 years ago. Five years later biopsy was performed for a recurrent lesion diagnosed as pleomorphic adenoma. He refused additional treatment and the size of the tumor subsequently increased slowly. As rapid tumor-growth had been observed since autumn of 1992, he was referred to Tokyo University Hospital. We took meticulous care of this deaf-mute patient, especially from the psychological aspect, which caused him to place great reliance upon us. We performed bilateral maxillectomy with partial resection of the right cheek skin and reconstructed his face and palate successfully using both latissmus dorsi and serratus anterior musculocutaneous free flaps with a rib. Histopathological diagnosis of the tumor was polymorphous low grade adenocarcinoma, which was registered as a definite entity in the WHO Classification in 1991. There was no evidence of local recurrence or metastasis one year postoperatively.