This image demonstrates solid groups of calls with scant cytoplasm. The cells are crowded in an overall lobular configuration. The tumor cells have dark, hyperchromatic nuclei without nucleoli.

Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma (BSCC) is an aggressive malignant neoplasm that most commonly affects the pharynx and larynx. Hallmarks of this tumor are:

• lobularly organized solid groups of cells, often closely adjacent to the surface mucosa
• small, crowded cells with little cytoplasm
• dark, hyperchromatic nuclei without nucleoli
• small, cystic spaces containing mucin-like material

The pathologic differential includes: adenoid cystic carcinoma, adenosquamous carcinoma, small cell carcinoma and neuroendocrine tumors.

BSCC is typically thought of as a variant of classic squamous cell carcinoma.

Treatment is analogous to squamous cell cancers. In the oropharynx, treatment is usually chemoradiation therapy with surgery for salvage or post treatment lyphadenopathy. In the oral cavity, primary treatment is typically surgery followed by adjuvant therapy including radiation and chemotherapy depending upon the extent of disease.

Some authors believe it displays distinct morphology and a more aggressive clinical course characterized by presentation at an later stage, early recurrence, cervical spread and distant metastasis2 . Other authors have compared the disease course to other squamous cell cancers and find little difference1,3

• Trachea : Basaloid Squamous Cell Carcinoma

• Oropharynx : p16 (+) Squamous Cell Carcinoma