Malignant

Malignant salivary gland tumors include a diverse group of primary neoplasms involving both the major and minor salivary glands. In addition, various secondary neoplasms (e.g., metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma) can also involve the salivary glands or lymph nodes within or closely associated with salivary glands. A majority of malignant tumors occur in the parotid and submandibular glands and account for most of the salivary gland fine needle aspirations (FNA). While some low-grade salivary gland cancers overlap cytomorphologically with their benign counterparts, many of the more common primary cancers in well-sampled and well-prepared FNAs with adequate material for ancillary studies will exhibit features that are sufficiently distinctive to be classified as Malignant. Once the specimen is interpreted as Malignant, grading should be attempted when possible, given the implications for clinical management.