Mucoepidermoid carcinoma arising in an intraparotid lymph node.

A well-differentiated mucoepidermoid carcinoma that was confined to, and apparently arose within, an intraparotid lymph node is reported. Salivary gland ducts and acini often are found within intraparotid lymph nodes, and occasionally within extraparotid nodes. Salivary gland tumors, both benign and malignant, can develop within this ectopic salivary tissue. When a malignant salivary-gland-type neoplasm is found within an intraparotid or periparotid lymph node, the possibility exists that the tumor has arisen within the node and does not necessarily represent a metastasis from some other occult site.