Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is an unusual slow growing salivary gland malignancy with higher chances of recurrence. It is characterized by the proliferation of ductal (luminal) and myoepithelial cells in cribriform, tubular, solid, and cystic forms. Standard treatment, including surgery with postoperative radiation therapy, has attained reasonable local control rates, but distant metastases do not allow any improvement in the survival rate. We present a case of a 50-year-old female diagnosed with ACC involving almost the whole of the upper lip, with an aim to highlight its histologic evolution from it being clinically seen as severely ulcerated and necrotised upper lip mimicking a case of squamous cell carcinoma and its prognosis.
Background:
Oral lichen planus (OLP), an immune mediated disorder, has been recognized since 1869 and is presented as any one of the six variants. Reticular and erosive are the most frequently encountered. Its proliferative capacity can give some information regarding its progression. We adopted the argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) method because of its simplicity to use and dependable results. We evaluated AgNORs in basal, suprabasal, and squamous cell layers. We also compared these three layers within two variants, reticular, and erosive.
Materials and Methods:
Thirty clinically diagnosed patients of OLP were included in the study. Reticular and erosive variants were included in our study. This was followed by hematoxylin and eosin staining and later by the AgNOR method. The mean number of AgNORs per nucleus was calculated.
Results:
Thirteen males and 17 females were the gender distribution. Twenty-three (76.67%) had reticular pattern and seven (23.33%) had erosive pattern. The basal cell layer had the highest mean AgNOR compared to suprabasal and squamous layers. Even among, erosive and reticular variants, the former had higher mean AgNOR counts.
Discussion:
Our results suggest that the inflammatory infiltrate close to the epithelial cells can alter the proliferation index for the pattern of protein synthesis of these cells. Moreover, the high proliferative index in OLP can be related to a specific immunologic response.
Conclusion:
We conclude that AgNOR can be used as a proliferative marker in earlier lesions to detect the severity.
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