Primary endocrine carcinoma of the parotid salivary gland associated with a lung carcinoid: a possible new association.

An endocrine carcinoma of the left parotid salivary gland in a 58-year-old woman is reported. The tumour displayed a large argyrophilic cell-component and at ultrastructural level endocrine-like granules (ELG) were evident. As endocrine-paracrine cells are not normally present in the parotid, it is suggested that the endocrine elements may have been derived from an anomalous differentiation of the ductal epithelial stem cells. A bronchial carcinoid, removed seven years previously, proved structurally, cytologically and histochemically different from the tumour of the parotid salivary gland. It is proposed that the occurrence of the two tumours might be an as yet undescribed association which is more than fortuitous.