Salivary Gland Tumors: A Retrospective Study of 164 Cases from a Single Private Practice Service in Mexico and Literature Review

Abstract

Salivary gland tumors (SGT) represent an uncommon heterogeneous group of tumors with complex clinical and pathological characteristics. The prevalence of these lesions varies between studies but has been estimated between 3 and 6% of all tumors in the head and neck region. The present study aimed to evaluate the distribution and demographic findings of salivary gland tumors diagnosed in an oral pathology service in Mexico. A retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study was performed. A total of 164 cases of SGT from a private oral pathology service were diagnosed between 2000 and 2019 in Mexico City. All cases were reviewed histologically, and demographic data and histopathological diagnoses were collected. A total of 110 (67.1%) tumors were benign, and 54 (32.9%) were malignant. The majority of patients were female (n = 100, 61.0%) with an overall female:male ratio of 1.6:1. The minor salivary glands were affected more than the major salivary glands (68.9% vs. 25.6%). The palate (n = 67, 40.9%) was the most commonly affected site, followed by the parotid gland (n = 37, 22.6%), lips (n = 16, 9.8%), and buccal mucosa (n = 14, 8.5%). Pleomorphic adenoma (n = 88; 80.0%) and mucoepidermoid carcinoma (n = 16, 29.6%) were the most frequent benign and malignant tumors, respectively. The general features of SGT from the studied Mexican population shared some similarities and differences compared to previously reported series from various parts of the world.

Salivary Gland Tumors: a Ten-Year Retrospective Analysis in a Brazilian Teaching Hospital

“…It was found that the pleomorphic adenoma was the most frequent type of salivary gland tumor, accounting for 53.4% of all tumors and 69.6% of benign tumors. Other studies involving tumors of salivary glands reported similar results, with pleomorphic adenoma representing the most frequent tumor type 8,15,[19][20][21][22][24][25][26][27][28][29]31,[34][35][36] and commonly found on the right side. Interestingly, this distribution was observed in the parotid tumors evaluated.…”

“…Cy s t i c a d e n o i d c a rc i n o m a w a s t h e m o s t prevalent malignant salivary gland tumor (6 cases), representing 8.2% of all tumors and 35.3% of malignant tumors, compatible with what was found in other studies 12,14,15,17,20,22,24,28,30,34 . However, the mucoepidermoid carcinoma, another malignant tumor, was the most prevalent 8,12,14,21,31,35,36 in other studies. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma and adenocarcinoma not otherwise specified (NOS) after cystic adenoid carcinoma, were the second most common tumors found.…”

“…The sublingual and minor glands were the least affected where each one was only affected once. Previous literature data report that minor salivary glands show a higher prevalence of malignant tumors compared to the major glands 8,12,[33][34][35][36] . Nevertheless, another study also showed greater involvement of the parotid gland in both malignant and benign tumors 37 .…”

Prevalence of salivary gland neoplasms in the head and neck in educational hospitals in Cairo Governorate

“…The prevalence of SGNs was found to be 231 cases (2.4 %) out of 9609 oral and maxillofacial biopsies, registered during the 10 years' period from January 2010 to December 2019. Similarly, a closer prevalence of (2.75%), (3%) and (2.6%) were reported in Southern Iran, Iran and Brazil respectively (Jaafari- Ashkavandi et al, 2013, Taghavi et al, 2016, da Silva et al, 2018 in addition to a prevalence of (1.5%) reported in a single institutional study in Saudi Arabia (Al Sheddi, 2016) and a single private practice study over a 20-year period in Mexico (Cunha et al, 2021). Other epidemiological studies performed among African populations in Kenya and Nigeria reported a higher prevalence of (5.4%) and (7.9%) (Bahra et al, 2012, Fomete et al, 2015.…”

Adenocarcinoma de células claras de glándula salival menor: Reporte de un caso

“…De hecho, en revisiones de casos, como la de Mengi et al, con 366 casos de tumores de glándulas salivales, no se hace referencia a adenocarcinomas de células claras de glándula salival menor [7]. Silva Cunha et al [8], con 164 casos reportados de tumores de glándulas salivales, tampoco reporta casos de adenocarcinomas de células claras de glándula salival menor; así mismo en la publicación de Gonzales et al [9],con 107 casos de tumores de glándulas salivales. En revisiones con mayor número de pacientes, como la de Westergaard Nielsen et al, de 1601 casos, se mencionan 8 adenocarcinomas de células claras de glándulas salivales menores [10].…”