Heterotopic salivary tissue and branchial cleft sinus.
Bilateral lesions which appeared clinically to be branchial cleft sinuses were removed from a patient's neck. One was indeed a branchial cleft sinus, with elements of salivary tissue, but the other proved to be pure salivary tissue with a duct characteristic of a salivary gland. The embryology and clinical characteristics of heterotopic salivary glands are discussed. The occurrence of a heterotopic gland together with a branchial cleft sinus supports the contention that the heterotopic glands arise through errors of development in the branchial apparatus.
D001935:Branchioma / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D002828:Choristoma / Q000473:pathology*; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012469:Salivary Glands