Abstract
Background: Salivary gland neoplasms constitute a group of heterogeneous lesions with complex clinicopathologic characteristics and distinct biological behavior. Numerous studies have suggested geographical variation, therefore the aims of this study were to analyze the characteristics of salivary gland neoplasms in two Iraqi centers and to analyze the postoperative complications that are encountered after surgical treatment of these tumors. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study of the patients who were treated for major and minor epithelial salivary gland tumors was conducted. The analyzed data included; demographic information (age and gender), the site of the tumor, the clinical manifestations, the histological type of the tumor, the type of the treatment and the postoperative complications. Results: Fifty seven patients were included in this study. The parotid gland was involved in most patients (n=37, 64.9%). Thirty five patients (61.4%) had benign tumors while 22 patients (38.6%) had malignant tumors. The mean age of patients with malignant tumors was 52.05 (±17.3) while of patients diagnosed with benign tumors was 41.6 (±11.4) years, the difference was statistically significant (p= 0.008). Surgical treatment consisted of superficial parotidectomy, total parotidectomy, surgical excision of the submandibular gland, surgical excision of minor salivary glands and maxillectomy. The most common complication was weakness of one or multiple branches of the facial nerve, complications were significantly associated with patients’ age, whereas gender and type of tumor whether benign or malignant did not affect the complication rate Conclusions: benign salivary gland tumors are more common than malignant tumors with no gender predilection and that patients who are diagnosed with malignant tumors are significantly older that patients with benign tumors, parotid gland is the most commonly affected gland with pleomorphic adenoma as the most frequent diagnosis. Facial nerve dysfunction was the most common complication and the complication rate was significantly associated with the age of patients.
Highlights
Salivary gland neoplasms constitute 210% of all head and neck neoplasms; they consist of a group of heterogeneous lesions with complex clinicopathologic characteristics and distinct biological behavior. [1, 2] Salivary gland tumors are divided into epithelial and non-epithelial as well as into benign and malignant tumors, Spiro in 1986 [3] in a study of 2807 patients reported that 25% of parotid tumors, 43% of submandibular gland tumors and 82% of minor salivary gland tumors were malignant
The mean age of patients in this study (45.4 years) is in line with that reported in other studies. [1, 8, 9] The WHO in 2005 reported that the average ages of patients with benign and malignant tumors are 46 and 47 years, respectively, [10] in this study, patients with benign tumors were significantly younger than the patients diagnosed with malignant tumors which is in line with many studies. [1, 6, 8] The gender distribution was even in this study which is in keeping with other studies
(11) In general females are more frequently affected by salivary gland tumors but there is some gender variation according to the tumor type, [10] many studies have demonstrated that benign tumors were slightly more common in females, whereas malignancies more often occur in males, [1] this was not demonstrated in this study
Summary
Salivary gland neoplasms constitute 210% of all head and neck neoplasms; they consist of a group of heterogeneous lesions with complex clinicopathologic characteristics and distinct biological behavior. [1, 2] Salivary gland tumors are divided into epithelial and non-epithelial as well as into benign and malignant tumors, Spiro in 1986 [3] in a study of 2807 patients reported that 25% of parotid tumors, 43% of submandibular gland tumors and 82% of minor salivary gland tumors were malignant. [3,4,5] Numerous studies from different regions of the world have been published concerning the incidence and the histological types of salivary gland tumors and geographical variation has been suggested, [1, 6] the aims of this study were to analyze the characteristics of salivary gland neoplasms in two Iraqi centers and to analyze the postoperative complications that are encountered after surgical treatment of these tumors. Numerous studies have suggested geographical variation, the aims of this study were to analyze the characteristics of salivary gland neoplasms in two Iraqi centers and to analyze the postoperative complications that are encountered after surgical treatment of these tumors.
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