Retrospective analysis of malignant salivary gland tumors in Hungarian population between 1987-2006

Abstract

Aim: In our study 64 cases of malignant salivary gland tumors diagnosed at the Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery Clinic of Pécs University from 1987 to 2006 were analyzed. Patients and Methods: The analysis focused on: total number, relative frequency and incidence of the newly diagnosed cases according to gender, age distribution, location, and histopathology and time distribution in two 10-year-periods. Results: The mean age of patients was 59 years. The overall incidence of malignant salivary gland tumors was 0.73/100,000 inhabitants annually and the male: female incidence rate ratio was 0.93. 81.3%of the tumors arose in the parotid gland, 9.4% in the submandibulary gland and 7.8% in the intraoral minor salivary glands. Adenoid cystic carcinoma was the most frequent histopathological diagnosis with 25% relative frequency followed by mucoepidermoid carcinoma and anaplastic carcinoma with equal relative frequency of 14.1%.We compared two ten year time intervals of the 20 year study period by tumor occurrence, incidence and male: female incidence rate ratio. Conclusions: Our results provide the first epidemiological data on malignant salivary gland tumors in Hungarian population comparing different ethnicities and geographic areas to get deeper insight into the etiology of malignant salivary gland tumor development.