Fine-needle aspiration biopsy as a diagnostic method in intraparotid schwannoma: a case report

Fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) is an important diagnostic method for the diagnosis of salivary gland tumors especially for intraparotid lesions with a high accuracy providing clinicians a possibility for preoperative planning. Because of their rarity and having similar cytological features with pleomorphic adenoma, intraparotid facial nerve schwannomas may not be recognized by FNAB. Here in this case report we evaluated the cytological findings that can help us for differentiating intraparotid schwannomas from pleomorphic adenomas. We think that not being able to find epithelial elements after a diligent search is the most important cytologic clue in the favour of schwannomas. With increasing number of reports about this issue, FNAB will help clinicians more for preoperative planning of the management of intraparotid schwannomas.