A case report of ectopic salivary gland tissue in the tongue base

Ectopic salivary gland tissue is the presence of normal salivary gland tissue developing outside of the major and minor salivary glands. We present a rare, incidental case of lingual ectopic salivary gland tissue in a 52-year-old male with known Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome, diagnosed on imaging as tongue mass. Excisional biopsy of the left tongue base lesion was performed and histologic examination revealed ectopic salivary gland tissue. We found only a few cases in literature of ectopic salivary gland tissue situated in the tongue. This case illustrates the need to consider ectopic salivary gland tissue as part of the differential diagnoses of a tongue mass.