gms | German Medical Science

On the basis of 608 salivary glands tumors diagnosed and treated from 1993 to 2007, coming from the relatively small region of Poland (1280000 inhabitants), the changes in the incidence, and clinical characteristics of this group of tumor was analyzed.

The significant increase in incidence of both in benign and malignant salivary glands tumors was observed in that period, but still the distribution (parotid gland – 78,8%, submandibular gland – 10,7%, and sublingual and small salivary glands – 10,5%) reflected the data commonly described in literature. The ratio of malignant tumors (148/608 - 24,3%) was much higher than usually quoted in literature, but distribution of histopathology reflected the typical finding. The malignant pattern of salivary gland tumors in men was significantly higher (31,1%) than in women (18,7%). The pleomorphic adenoma and Worthin tumor dominate in the benign group; the Adenoid cystic carcinoma; Squamous cell carcinoma and low grade Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma – in the malignant group. The analysis confirmed commonly accepted rule – the smaller the salivary gland, the highest rate of malignancy in tumors originating from it, and – the older is a patient, the risk of malignant pattern of tumor of salivary gland origin is higher. As a general conclusion from that analysis authors postulate necessity of multicenter studies concerning the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of salivary gland tumors – the malignant, as well as the benign.