CT imaging findings of acinic cell carcinoma in parotid gland

DONG Wenxia; JIANG Mingxiang; SHAO Guoliang; CHENG Guoping

Abstract：Objective To investigate the CT findings of acinic cell carcinoma in parotid gland in order to enhance the under-standing of this rare disease. Methods CT findings of 20 cases (7 men and 13 women, median age 57) with pathologically proved ACCP were retrospectively reviewed .All CT images were evaluated in relation to the followings:location, size, morpholo-gy, margin, CT density and enhancement pattern .Results Each of the 20 patients had only 1 tumor.Seventeen lesions were lo-cated in the superficial lobe and 3 in the deep 1obe.The maximum diameter of lesions ranged from 0.8~3.5 cm.Eighteen cases demonstrated round or oval round masses with well defined margin ,two cases demonstrated irregular masses with ill defined edge . Among them, the preauricular skin was invaded and the retromandibular vein was embedded in 1 case respectively.The densities were homogeneous in 6 cases and unhomogeneous in 14 cases.Compared to normal muscle , 15 cases manifested as slight low-den-sity and 5 cases manifested as isodensity on CT plain scan .Three lesions showed granular calcifications .On post contrast images , lesions demonstrated remarkable enhancement in 15 cases, moderate enhancement in 3 cases and slight enhancement in 2 cases. The uniform or partial thin and enhancing capsules could be seen in sixteen cases .Conclusion Most of ACCP manifeste as well defined single masses located in the superficial lobe with cystic degeneration and marked enhancement , like the feature of benign tumors.CT examinations can accurately demonstrate the extent of tumor involvement and provide more comprehensive imformation for the strategy of clinic therapy .