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Objectives: Salivary gland tumours (SGTs) are a group of heterogeneous lesions with complex clinico-pathological
characteristics and distinct biological behaviours. Previous studies have reported geographic variations in site distribution,
incidence and histological types of SGTs. The aim of this study was to describe the demography of SGTs
seen at a tertiary health centre and compare findings with previous studies.
Study design: Data on SGTs from archives of the Department of Oral Pathology and the Department of Pathology,
University College Hospital Ibadan were retrieved. Information about histological types, age, sex and location were
analyzed using SPSS for Window (version 20.0; SPSS Inc. Chicago, IL). Reactive and tumor-like lesions such as
sialometaplasia, benign lymphoepithelial lesion, lymphoepithelial cyst, mucocele, mucous extravasation phenomenon,
ranula, and sialosis were excluded from the study.
Results: 413 SGTs consisting of 221 (53.5%) malignant and 192 (46.5%) benign lesions were seen. SGTs occurred
more in females (50.6%) than males (49.4%) with a mean age of 43.7 (±16.9) years and peak age in the fifth
decade of life. The parotid with 171 (41.4%) cases was the commonest site, followed by palate with 89 (21.5%)
cases, while only 7(1.7%) cases were seen in sublingual gland. Pleomorphic adenoma with 169 (40.9%) was the
most frequent SGT followed by adenoid cystic carcinoma with 93 (22.5%) cases which also was the most frequent
malignant SGT while only 3 (0.7%) cases of Warthin's tumour were seen.
Conclusion: This report is one of few that showed a higher occurrence of malignant SGTs compared to their benign
counterparts. The findings were essentially similar to findings in Africa but showed SGTs to be more common in
females. The reason(s) for high occurrence of malignant SGTs in minor salivary glands and the rarity of Warthins
tumour in this study and other African series compared to those from America needs further investigation.
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