[Cystic lymphoepithelial lesions in the head and neck area in HIV-infected patients]

Benign lymphoepithelial cysts (BLC) are rare disorders of salivary glands (0.6%). In patients infected by HIV, they are seen more often. In comparison to sporadic BLC, the patients are younger, the diameter of the cysts is up to 5 cm and they are often located bilaterally. At the Department of ENT, Head and Neck Surgery of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, ten HIV-infected patients (two females) showed lymphoepithelial cysts (six times bilaterally). One of these revealed a metastasis of a small cell neoplasma near the cysts, another patient showed a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of low grade malignancy (MALT-type), and one patient additionally had bilateral Warthin's tumours. The BLCs were mostly located in the parotid tail. In three cases, the cysts were found on the inferior border of the parotid and once at the submandibular gland. The age ranged from 27 to 71 years (medium 45.7 years). The mode of HIV infection was homosexuality five times, drug abuse twice, heterosexuality once, and blood products once. In two cases, the channel of transmission was unknown. The majority of the patients showed minor HIV illness (CDC II [n = 2]/CDC III [n = 4]); the rest had advanced immunodeficiency (CDC IV [n = 4]). All the cysts were examined by ultrasonography and NMR. According to the clinical findings and the general stage of health, BLCs were either enucleated (n = 8) or a superficial parotidectomy (n = 5) and selective biopsy of lymph nodes (n = 3) suspected to be malignant were performed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)