Salivary Gland Tumors in Libyan Population: A 20- Years Retrospective Study

Background and objectives. Salivary gland tumors (SGT) are relatively uncommon. It pose considerable challenging in diagnosis because their histopathological features and behavior diversity. There are several epidemiological studies describe their incidence and frequency. The current study aims to investigate the diverse histological types and distribution clinical characters. Methods. A retrospective study was carried out in oral diagnosis, oral medicine, oral pathology and radiology department of faculty of dentistry at Benghazi university from 2000 to 2019. Information gathered contained the year of diagnosis, age, gender, site, symptoms and histopathological diagnosis. The data collected was analyzed with SPSS. Result. Of the total 60 salivary gland tumors, 25 (41.7%) was benign tumors in which the pleomorphic adenoma was the most common type (n=24, 96%), and malignant tumors account (n=35, 38.3%) with mucoepidermoid carcinoma is the most frequent (n=41, 40%). Female to male ratio was 1.3:1 with average age of 40.5 (range 11-94). About 91.1% of salivary gland tumors were diagnosed in minor salivary gland where most of cases occurred in palate by 8.9%. Major salivary glands were affected by 8.9% mostly in parotid gland (7.2%). Most of cases were diagnosed as painless swelling. Conclusion: Malignant salivary gland tumors more common the benign type with the palate is the principle anatomical location. Pleomorphic adenoma was the most common pathological finding with predominance of female over male.