Mucous and Salivary Gland Tumours—Part I

Abstract

The mucous and salivary gland group of tumours has been defined1 as being “made up partly of tumours of the large salivary glands of the mouth.. and partly of similar tumours which occur particularly within or in the neighbourhood of mucous membranes with serous, sero-mucous or mucous glands.” Although not common (constituting 1 per cent.1 of all tumours) they form the subject of an extensive literature and prove of interest alike to the clinician, pathologist and radiotherapist. The commonest of these tumours is the so-called mixed tumour, and although for a long time similar tumours have been known to occur in situations other than the main salivary glands, notably in the head and neck region, e.g., buccal cavity, hard palate, lachrymal gland, nasopharynx, antrum, lip, and skin, etc., the parotid region is so pre-eminently the site of election that it is only within recent years that mixed tumours of these extra-salivary gland sites* have received the attention they merit. Much of the speculation and co...