Frequency and pattern of salivary gland lesions at a tertiary care centre

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the frequency and histo-morphological pattern of non-neoplastic and neoplastic salivary gland lesions at a tertiary care centre. Study Design: Retrospective descriptive cross-sectional study Place and Duration: Histopathology section, Dow Diagnostic Reference and Research Laboratory, Karachi from 1st February 2021 to 31st July, 2021. Methodology: Data of all salivary gland lesions were retrieved from institutional database. All tissue specimens of parotid, submandibular and sublingual salivary glands lesions as well as possible minor salivary glands swellings were included for histopathological analysis. Type of benign or neoplastic lesion along with salivary gland involved were assessed. Results: Out of a total of 739 samples, 28.0% were non-neoplastic whereas 72.0% were neoplastic lesions. Out of 207 non-neoplastic lesions, 55.1% were of inflammatory origin whereas 44.9% were mucoceles. Chronic sialadenitis (61.4%) was the most common non-neoplastic inflammatory lesion. Among mucoceles, those reported with no specification of type predominated (37.6%). Out of total 543 neoplastic lesions, 53.1% were benign whereas 19.3% were malignant. Pleomorphic adenoma (87.1%) was the commonest benign neoplastic lesion, followed by benign epidermal inclusion cysts (3.7%). Of the 127 malignant salivary gland tumors, mucoepidermoid carcinoma (39.4%) was the most common lesion, followed by adenoid cystic carcinoma (29.1%). Conclusion: Chronic sialadenitis was the most common non-neoplastic lesion whereas pleomorphic adenoma was the predominant benign lesion. Moreover, mucoepidermoid carcinoma was the most common malignant lesion followed by adenoid cystic carcinoma. Keywords: Salivary Glands, Neoplastic lesion, Non-neoplastic lesion, Frequency, Sialadenitis, Adenoma, Carcinoma