BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to review clinicopathological aspects of salivary glands tumours from 1980 through 1997 at Departament of Pathology of Paulista School of Medicine - Federal University of São Paulo - Unifesp. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated 205.967 pathological reports and we found 119 salivary gland tumours, 93 benign neoplasms (78%) and 26 malignant tumours (22%). RESULTS: The age range was 6-74 years (mean age 40 years), 71 cases were in female (60%) and 48 cases were in male (40 %). The distribution of tumours in various sites were 84 cases of parotid tumours (70.6%), 23 cases of submandibular (19.3%), 11 cases of minor (oropharyngeal) glands (9.24%) and just one case of sublingual gland tumour (0.86%) . Pleomorphic adenoma forming 59.7% of the total salivary gland tumours, Warthin's tumour forming 10% of the series, adenoid cystic carcinoma forming 9.3% and mucoepidermoid carcinoma forming 8.4%. CONCLUSIONS: Some aspects like distribution of tumour in relation to the site and histopathological pattern are very important to considered in the treatment of the disease and prognosis.
Salivary glands; Tumors
