26 April 2026
: Case report 
Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of the Submandibular Gland in an Older Adult: A Rare Case and Literature Review
Rare disease
Rossana Moi ABCDEFG 1, Ingrid Raponi
ABCDEFG 1*, Alessandra Perfetti BE 2, Silvana Giacinti BE 3, Michele Battista BE 4, Piero Luigi Alò BE 2, Andrea Marzetti ABCDEFG 1
DOI: 10.12659/AJCR.951324
Am J Case Rep 2026; 27:e951324
Table 1 Summary of the 27 cases of submandibular gland neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) reported in the literature, including our case.
| Author (year of publication) | Age (y) sex | Symptoms (mo) | Instrumental investigation | Dimension (cm) | Treatment | Follow-up (mo) | Local or metastatic recurrence (mo) | Death (mo) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gnepp et al (1986) []6 | 84 M | Painless swelling (<1) | NA | 2 | None | 1 | Yes | Yes (1) |
| Gnepp et al (1986) []6 | 33 M | Swelling (6) | NA | 3 | Surgery, Cht | 85 | No | No |
| Gnepp et al (1986) []6 | 67 F | Swelling and rapid grow | NA | 4 | Surgery | 51 | Yes (7) | Yes (51) |
| Gnepp et al (1986) []6 | 61 F | Painless swelling (3) | NA | 6 | Surgery, Cht, Rt | 5 | NA | Yes (5) |
| Gnepp et al (1986) []6 | 52 M | Painless swelling (4) | NA | 4 | Surgery, RT | 36 | No | No |
| Dardick et al (1989) []22 | 76 M | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Pierce et al (1994) []22 | 54 F | Painless swelling | CT | 3 | Surgery, RT, ChT | 15 | Yes | Yes (15) |
| Baker et al (1999) []22 | 49 M | Painless swelling (3) | CT | 4.5 | Surgery | NA | Yes | Yes |
| Nagao et al (2004) []7 | 46 F | NA | NA | 10 | Surgery, RT | 6 | Yes | Yes (6) |
| Nagao et al (2004) []7 | 85 M | NA | NA | 3.8 | Surgery | 9 | Yes | Yes (9) |
| De Vincente Rodriguez et al (2004) []22 | 57 M | Painless swelling (4) | FNAC, CT | 4.5 | Surgery, RT | 72 | No | No |
| Lin et al (2005) []12 | 39 M | Painless swelling | NA | 2 | Surgery, Cht | NA | Yes (12) | Yes |
| Walters et al (2007) []13 | 46 F | Rapid grow swelling (2) | FNAC, CT | 10 | Surgery, Cht, RT, Cht | NA | Yes (8) | Yes |
| Sowerby et al (2007) []15 | 81 M | Facial paralysis | FNAC | 6 | RT, ChT | 27 | No | Yes (6) |
| Kao et al (2012) []14 | 53 F | NA | NA | <2 | Surgery | 27 | No | No |
| Meacham et al (2012) []3 | NA | NA | FNAB | NA | Surgery | NA | NA | NA |
| Scaduto et al (2012) []16 | 79 M | Painless swelling (3) | FNAB, PET | 3 | Surgery, Cht | 24 | No | No |
| Petrone et al (2013) []2 | 72 F | Painless swelling | FNAC, X-ray | 1.4 | Surgery | 11 | No | No |
| Servato et al (2013) []24 | 70 M | Painfull swelling (4) | FNAB, CT, MRI, biopsy | 7 | ChT, RT | 12 | Yes | Yes (12) |
| Yamamoto et al (2013) []17 | 58 M | Painless swelling (4) | MRI, PET | 2 | Surgery | 14 | No | No |
| Kawaratani et al (2013) []18 | 68 M | Painless swelling | FNAC, CT | 5 | Autopsy | NA | No | Yes |
| Andreasen et al (2016) []19 | 69 F | Rapid grow swelling (<1) | US, FNAC, PET-CT | 5.5 | Surgery, RT, ChT | 19 | No | No |
| Nigi Ross Philip et al (2017) []20 | 30 M | Rapid grow swelling (<1) | US, FNAC, CT | 7 | Surgery, RT, ChT | 6 | No | No |
| Mascitti et al (2019) []21 | 21 M | Painfull swelling (2) | FNAC, CT, PET | 2.5 | Surgery | 125 | Yes (41) | No |
| Yin and Philips (2022) []22 | 54 F | Painfull swelling (2) | FNAC, CT | NA | Surgery | 12 | No | No |
| Wang et al (2024) []23 | 50 M | Swelling | US | 4.1 | Surgery | NA | NA | NA |
| Present case (2025) | 78 M | Painless swelling | CT, FNAB | 6 | Surgery, ChT | 60 | No | No |
| NA – not available; FNAC – fine needle aspiration cytology; FNAB – fine needle aspiration biopsy; US – ultrasound; MRI – magnetic resonance; Cht – chemotherapy; RT – radiotherapy. | ||||||||