Cytodiagnosis of Schwannoma of parotid gland: a rare entity in a child

Schwannoma of parotid gland in a child is rare. We report a rare case of schwannoma in parotid gland in a 10-year-old child who presented with a gradually enlarging swelling in parotid region for the last I year. Color doppler study showed increased vascularity in the lesion with venous return pattern, suggestive of a hemangioma. However, fine needle aspiration cytology showed features consistent with schwannoma, comprising of sheets of uniform spindled cells with nuclei having tapering ends and exhibiting subtle nuclear palisading within a hypocellular fibrillary stromal background. The parotid mass was then excised. Histopathological and immuno- histochemical examinations further yielded the diagnosis of schwannoma, confirming the cytological diagnosis. This case report emphasizes that the cytodiagnosis of schwannoma is difficult due to many pitfalls encountered in fine needle aspirate. Therefore, schwannoma should always be considered in differential diagnosis of spindle-cell lesion in salivary glands even in children for early diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Unless schwannoma is included in the cytologic differential diagnosis, the surgeon may fail to recognize it at operation and may inadvertently transect the facial nerve.