Salivery gland lesions: a Jamaican perspective

ABSTRACT

A retrospective analysis of the spectrum and relative frequency of salivary gland lesions diagnosed inthe Department of Pathology, University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica between 1965 and 1994, is reported. Four hundred and sixty-four salivary gland biopsies were received. Of these 99 (21.3 percent) were non-neoplastic and the remaining 365 (78.7 percent) were neoplasm 261 (71.5 percent) were benign and 104 (28.5 percent) malignant. Benign mixed tumour (BTM)/ pleomomorphic adenoma (PA) was the most common neoplasm (63.3 percent) while mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) was the most common malignant neoplasm (9.6 percent), followed by adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) (7.4 percent). The increased frequency of MEC over ACC is at variance with other reported series but the preponderance of pleomorphic adenoma is consistent. In the major salivary glands, benign neoplasms predominate at a rotio of 31, while a higher proportion of minor salivary gland neoplasms was malignant, ratio 1.21 (p=0.003). These data represent the first attemp to document the spectrum of disease related to oral and maxillofacial pathology in jamaica. (AU)