Pulmonary metastases 15 years after removal of an alveolar soft-part sarcoma of the tongue.

Alveolar soft-part sarcoma is a distinct entity. The clinical course is protracted with survival up to 20 years, although the patients eventually succumb to their disease with distant metastases. Because of frequent local recurrences radical surgery is treatment of choice. A case of a 19 year old asymptomatic man with pulmonary metastases discovered 15 years after removal of a primary tumor from the tongue is reported and clinical, radiographic and therapeutic aspects of the disease are discussed.