A case of primary Hodgkin's lymphoma of the parotid gland.

We report an extremely rare case (sixth reported case) of primary Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) (mixed cellularity type) of the parotid gland. A 14-year-old man was referred to our hospital for evaluation of a parotid mass. Although the initial aspiration cytology was highly suggestive of HL, the confirmatory diagnosis obtained by open biopsy was non-specific lymphadenitis. Consequently, the patient was observed without any additional treatment. Because the mass continued to increase in size, we performed a total parotidectomy which led to the diagnosis of mixed cellularity HL. This case suggests that the specimen taken during open biopsy may have been too small (about 1 cm3) to detect the presence of Reed-Sternberg giant cells, which is essential for the diagnosis of HL. Therefore, although primary HL of the parotid gland is extremely rare, adequate tissue sampling of a clinically suspicious parotid mass will be required for the diagnosis of HL.