The cytogenetical observations in a cultured parotid pleomorphic adenoma are presented. The patient had received treatment with X-rays for an infectious disorder in the same region about 50 years earlier. A polyclonal chromosomal pattern was disclosed with predominance of unique structural deviations. We have observed a similar chromosomal picture in a previously reported adenoma. This patient had also been treated with X-rays about 50 years earlier. The findings in these two cases suggest that many, perhaps all, pleomorphic adenomas are either congenital or arise very early in life. Their clinical manifestation at strongly varying time points in adulthood would then depend on accumulated mutational effects of unknown oncogenic agents.

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