title: Epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma of the tongue base: a case for the case-report and review of the literature.
abstract: A 60 year old lady was referred to the Princess Alexandra Hospital (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) tertiary Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Unit from a peripheral hospital for investigation and management of a tumour at the base of the tongue. Biopsy of the tumour revealed it to be an epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma of the base of the tongue. This is an extremely rare tumour in this location with only 2 other case reports in the world literature: the patients were treated with chemo-radiotherapy and surgery respectively. Our patient was made aware of the world literature and was able to make a fully informed decision on her choice of treatment modality and was treated with radiotherapy. Increasingly journals are limiting publication of case reports to "world firsts" only. We present a case where such a policy would have denied patient choice and possibly led to detrimental treatment.We review the world literature of tongue base epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma of the tongue.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Ipswich Rd, Woolloongabba, Queensland, Australia. peter2734@gmail.com
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.forename: Costa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Repanos
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Earnshaw
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stark
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Burmeister
authors.forename: Lloyd
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: McGuire
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jeavons
authors.forename: William B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Coman A M
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014059:Tongue / Q000473:pathology; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy