Crystalloid granuloma of the parotid gland: a previously undescribed salivary gland lesion.

This paper reports a case of epithelioid cell granuloma containing numerous crystalloids, found in the parotid region of a 63-yr-old man. Histopathologic, histochemical and scanning electron microscopic findings of these crystalloids scattered throughout the lesion were similar to those of previously studied crystalloids in salivary duct cysts. Further, a foreign body reaction to crystalloids was frequently found, such a finding suggests the lesion as a manifestation of a granulomatous reaction to crystalloids formed in the parotid gland, and was diagnosed as crystalloid granuloma of the parotid gland.