Septal pleomorphic adenoma masquerading as squamous cell carcinoma.

A 43-year-old woman had left midfacial pain and a left intranasal mass. Pathologists from three different institutions agreed that the biopsy specimens from the mass represented squamous cell carcinoma. The final pathologic diagnosis made from the resected specimen was pleomorphic adenoma of the septum. This report describes a case which was initially misdiagnosed on the basis of misleading tissue biopsy results, but the excised tumor was finally diagnosed as pleomorphic adenoma. Otolaryngologists treating an intranasal mass must be aware of the difficulty of correctly diagnosing the initial tissue biopsy specimen in order to guard against unnecessary radical surgery.