Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma of the Tongue Base Mimicking

Copyright © 2013 Salvatore Martellucci et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. A 69-year-old woman with mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) of the tongue base came under our observation complaining of repeated episodes of haemoptysis. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the tongue base gives rise to a rather vague and aspecific symptomatology. Early symptoms include foreign body sensation in the oral cavity, undefined paraesthesia, and sialorrhoea. With the progression of disease, dysphagia, otalgia, and painful swallowing are usually referred. We report a case of mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the tongue base mimicking an ectopic thyroid. 1