Malignant tumours of the minor salivary glands—a 20 year review☆
Section snippets
Patients and methods
In the 20-year period (1980–2000) the case notes of all patients treated for malignant tumours of the minor salivary glands at the Head and Neck Oncology Clinic were reviewed. Malignant tumours of the parotid, submandibular and sublingual salivary glands were excluded. Data were collected from the operating records and pathology database, the histological slides were examined and surviving patients reviewed in the head and neck clinic. The staging of all cases was based on the TNM
Results
In the 20-year period (1980–2000) 21 patients with minor salivary gland malignancies were seen (15 males and six females), the median age at presentation being 54 years of age (range 34–80 years).
The most common clinical presentation was a mass in the oral cavity (50%), followed by a blocked or bleeding nose (30%), infra orbital nerve anaesthesia (10%) and orbital pain. (10%).
There were five different histological tumour types found, the most common being adenoid cystic carcinoma (seven
Discussion
This study confirms that minor salivary gland malignancies are uncommon and that adenoid cystic carcinoma and mucoepidermoid caricinoma are the most frequent histological types.1., 2., 9. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma occurred most often in the oral cavity whereas adenoid cystic carcinoma had a propensity for the sinonasal tract, consistent with the series reported by Lopes.7 Although Weber et al. reported that in lip and buccal mucosa a diagnosis of adenoid cystic carcinoma was the most likely,10
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Presented at the British Association of Plastic Surgeons, Birmingham, July 2000; and International Congress of Maxillofacial Surgeons, Edinburgh, May 2000.