Salivary gland tumours in the intraoral region: A retrospective study of cases treated in a teaching hospital in North-West Nigeria

Abstract

Tumours of the minor salivary glands occurring in the oral cavity are uncommon. The oral cavity has many tiny salivary glands which occur in the lip, palate, floor of the mouth, cheeks, tongue and pharynx. Tumour could develop from any of these minor salivary glands. We conducted a retrospective study of twenty-four cases of these tumours treated in our Centre over a period of eleven years. The objective of this study is to investigate the nature, clinical features, pathology, and treatment of these tumours in North-West, Nigeria.  This was a retrospective study of all patients with minor salivary gland tumours that were treated at Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital, Kaduna, Nigeria. The study covered a period of eleven years from January, 2009 to December, 2019. Information was extracted from case files of patients. Data collected includes: age of patient at presentation, sex, location of tumour, clinical features, treatment giving, complications and histological diagnosis. The age of the patients ranged from 16 to 70 years, with the mean SD = 43.0 ± 6.6 years and male-to-female ratio was 1: 2. Benign tumours were the most common compared to malignancies. Palate was the commonest site of occurrence; followed by upper lip. The treatment was surgical excision. Palatal fistula was the commonest complication of the surgery. Tumour of minor salivary glands need urgent attention as it greatly interferes with oral functions and could destroy maxillary bone resulting in untoward debilitating effect. Key words: Salivary glands, tumour, intraoral, palate, benign, malignant.