Benign lymphoepithelial lesion is a type of benign

Benign

A benign tumor is a tumor that lacks the ability to metastasize. Common examples of benign tumors include moles and uterine fibroids.The term "benign" implies a mild and nonprogressive disease. Indeed, many kinds of benign tumors are harmless to human health...

 enlargement of the parotid

Parotid gland

The paired parotid glands are the largest of the salivary glands. They are each found wrapped around the mandibular ramus, and secrete saliva through Stensen's ducts into the oral cavity, to facilitate mastication and swallowing and to begin the digestion of starches.-Location:The parotid glands...

 and/or lacrimal gland

Lacrimal gland

The lacrimal glands are paired almond-shaped glands, one for each eye, that secrete the aqueous layer of the tear film. They are situated in the upper, outer portion of each orbit, in the lacrimal fossa of the orbit formed by the frontal bone. Inflammation of the lacrimal glands is called...

s. This pathologic

Pathology

Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....

 state is sometimes, but not always, associated with Sjögren's syndrome

Sjögren's syndrome

Sjögren's syndrome , also known as "Mikulicz disease" and "Sicca syndrome", is a systemic autoimmune disease in which immune cells attack and destroy the exocrine glands that produce tears and saliva....

.

Eponym

Historically, bilateral parotid and lacrimal gland

Gland

A gland is an organ in an animal's body that synthesizes a substance for release of substances such as hormones or breast milk, often into the bloodstream or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface .- Types :...

 enlargement was characterized by the term Mikulicz's disease if the enlargement appeared apart from other diseases. If it was secondary to another disease, such as tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

, sarcoidosis

Sarcoidosis

Sarcoidosis , also called sarcoid, Besnier-Boeck disease or Besnier-Boeck-Schaumann disease, is a disease in which abnormal collections of chronic inflammatory cells form as nodules in multiple organs. The cause of sarcoidosis is unknown...

, lymphoma

Lymphoma

Lymphoma is a cancer in the lymphatic cells of the immune system. Typically, lymphomas present as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. Treatment might involve chemotherapy and in some cases radiotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation, and can be curable depending on the histology, type, and stage...

, and Sjögren's syndrome, the term used was Mikulicz's syndrome. Both names derive from Jan Mikulicz-Radecki

Jan Mikulicz-Radecki

Jan Mikulicz-Radecki was a Polish-Austrian surgeon. He was born May 16, 1850 in Czernowitz in the Austrian Empire and died June 4, 1905 in Breslau, German Empire .While his mother Freiin von Damnitz was Austrian, his parental ancestors of the Mikulicz...

, the Polish

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 surgeon

Surgery

Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...

 best known for describing these conditions.

Today, the terms "Mikulicz's disease" and "Mikulicz's syndrome" are viewed as ambiguous and outdated by some sources.

Characteristic

Benign lymphoepithelial lesion is most likely to occur in adult

Adult

An adult is a human being or living organism that is of relatively mature age, typically associated with sexual maturity and the attainment of reproductive age....

s around 50 years of age. There is a predilection for gender with 60% - 80% being female

Female

Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...

. The gland affected has a diffuse swelling. The swelling can be asymptomatic

Asymptomatic

In medicine, a disease is considered asymptomatic if a patient is a carrier for a disease or infection but experiences no symptoms. A condition might be asymptomatic if it fails to show the noticeable symptoms with which it is usually associated. Asymptomatic infections are also called subclinical...

, but mild pain

Pain

Pain is an unpleasant sensation often caused by intense or damaging stimuli such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting iodine on a cut, and bumping the "funny bone."...

 can also be associated. There is a preponderance of this disease in those who suffer from HIV

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

 infection.

Most cases of benign lymphoepithelial lesions appear in conjunction with Sjögren's syndrome. When Sjögren's syndrome is present, the swelling is usually bilateral. Otherwise, the affected glands are usually only on one side of the body.

In many cases, a biopsy

Biopsy

A biopsy is a medical test involving sampling of cells or tissues for examination. It is the medical removal of tissue from a living subject to determine the presence or extent of a disease. The tissue is generally examined under a microscope by a pathologist, and can also be analyzed chemically...

 is needed to distinguish benign lymphoepithelial lesions from sialadenosis (sialosis).

Histology

There is a marked lymphoplasmacytic infiltration. Lymphoid follicles surround solid epithelial nests, giving rise to the 'epimyoepithelial islands', that are mainly composed of ductal cells with occasional myoepithelial cells. Excess hyaline basement membrane material is deposited between cells, and there is also acinar atrophy and destruction.

Treatment

Treatment usually consists of observation unless the patient has concern, there is pain, drainage, or other symptoms related to the lesion. Surgical removal of the affected gland would be recommended in those cases. Another treatment option would be aspiration, which can be repeated multiple times. This is commonly performed in those who are debilitated or in those whose benefit from surgery would be outweighed by the risks. Prognosis is usually good; rarely this condition may devolve into lymphoma, or could actually represent 'occult' lymphoma from the outset.