Oral cavity & oropharynx
Oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma
Basaloid
Author: Nat Pernick, M.D.
Last author update: 1 November 2013
Last staff update: 1 April 2021
Copyright: 2002-2023, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma[TI] oral
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Case reports | Treatment | Microscopic (histologic) description | Positive stains | Negative stains | Differential diagnosis | Additional referencesCite this page: Pernick N. Basaloid. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/oralcavitybasaloidscc.html. Accessed May 31st, 2023.
Definition / general
- Uncommon, < 200 cases reported
- Median age 62 years (range 27 - 88 years), 88% male, 92% smokers and 88% drinkers
- Sites: base of tongue, tonsil, hypopharynx; also other sites outside upper aerodigestive tract
- Aggressive with 68% having regional metastases at presentation, 77% stage III / IV, median survival 18 months
- Metastases to lung
Case reports
- Anterior floor of mouth tumor (Arch Pathol Lab Med 1994;118:1229)
Treatment
- Radical surgery, radiation therapy or chemotherapy
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Lobules, nests or cribriform patterns of small basaloid cells with peripheral palisading and a thick basement membrane
- Cells have minimal cytoplasm, are moderately pleomorphic with hyperchromatic nuclei and often abrupt transition to squamous epithelium
- Single cell necrosis and comedonecrosis are common; often contiguous with carcinoma in situ in surface epithelium
- Frequent mitotic activity, stroma often hyalinized or myxoid; variable pseudoglandular spaces resembling adenoid cystic carcinoma
- Rarely has spindle cell component (Arch Pathol Lab Med 1995;119:181)
Positive stains
- 34 beta E12 (100%), EMA (83%), AE1 / AE3 or CAM 5.2 (80%), neuron specific enolase (75%, weak), CEA (53%) and S100 (39%)
Negative stains
Differential diagnosis
- Adenoid cystic carcinoma
- Adenosquamous carcinoma
- Peripheral ameloblastoma
- Small cell carcinoma
Additional references
