Metastatic Basal Cell Adenocarcinoma of Submandibular Gland to the Spine: An Extremely Rare Condition

Abstract

Background: Basal cell adenocarcinomas are rare malignant neoplasms of salivary glands, accounting for <1% of salivary gland tumors. Few cases of distant metastases have been reported.

Case description: A 50-year-old Thai man was diagnosed with basal cell adenocarcinoma of the submandibular gland with pulmonary and cervical spine metastases with progressive myelopathy. He was treated with wide surgical resection of the soft tissue tumor and modified radical neck dissection, anterior cervical total corpectomy with fusion combined with posterior decompression and fusion of the cervical spine, and surgical wound coverage by anterolateral thigh free tissue transfer, followed by adjuvant radiotherapy. At 18-month follow-up, the patient remained in good condition, and no signs of local recurrence or contiguous spreading were detected. Postoperative radiographs showed solid osseous fusion without loss of correction or implant failure.

Conclusions: This case highlighted an extremely rare condition of metastatic basal cell adenocarcinoma of the submandibular gland to the lung and spine, which, to our knowledge, has not been previously reported in the literature.

Keywords: Basal cell adenocarcinoma; Basal cell adenoma; Metastatic basal cell adenocarcinoma; Salivary gland cancer; Spinal metastasis; Submandibular gland cancer.