Salivary gland tumors in a Brazilian population: A 20-year retrospective and multicentric study of 2292 cases

Abstract

Purpose: Neoplasms of the salivary glands comprise more than thirty subtypes of lesions with various clinical behaviors. The present study aimed to describe the incidence and main features of salivary gland tumors in Brazil.

Material and methods: A retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study was performed (1997-2017). A total of 88,430 biopsy records of oral and maxillofacial lesions from 5 pathology referral centers were analyzed. All cases of salivary gland tumors were reviewed and data such as gender, age, skin color, anatomical location, symptomatology, tumor size and histopathological diagnosis were collected.

Results: Among all lesions, there were 2,292 (2.6%) cases of salivary gland tumors. The most frequent benign and malignant neoplasm was pleomorphic adenoma (n = 1,086; 47.4%) and mucoepidermoid carcinoma (n = 322; 14.0%), respectively. The majority of the patients were white (n = 757; 33%) and female (n = 1,391; 60.7%), and most cases involved the parotid gland (n = 933; 40.7%; p < 0.001). Age ranged from 1 to 101 years, occurring more in the fourth decade of life. Tumor size varied from 0.3 to 15 cm and the presence of symptomatology (pain/swelling) occurred more in patients with malignant tumors (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: The incidence profile and clinical findings of salivary gland tumors were similar to those described worldwide; nevertheless, multicenter studies are valuable to better characterize these neoplasms.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Head and neck pathology; Neoplasm; Salivary gland.