Salivary gland tumours in kaduna; a ten-year review.

The aim of this paper was to review salivary gland tumours seen in Kaduna with emphasis on their prevalence, clinical presentation and management outcome. A retrospective study of 224 patients with salivary gland tumours seen and managed at the Maxillo-Facial unit of the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Kaduna over a period of 10 years was carried out using information from patients' records. Of the 224 patients treated, 54% were males and 46% were females. Salivary gland tumours were seen and treated in all age group with a peak incidence between the third and fourth decades. About fifty nine percent (58.9%) of cases treated were adenomas, 34.4% carcinomas, 5.4% carcinoma ex pleomorphic and 1.3% were non-epithelial tumours. The palate was the most common site of tumour occurrence while the parotid was the major salivary gland affected. Patients with salivary gland adenomas presented most often with painless swellings while those with carcinomas had painful swellings with cervical lymph node swelling and ulceration as the presenting complaints. Eighty percent of malignant salivary gland tumours metastasized to the lungs. Treatment of tumours was surgical, combined with radiotherapy. It appears that salivary gland tumour are not as rare among blacks as previously believed. It is rarer at the extremes of age with a peak incidence in the third and fourth decades. Adenomas of the salivary glands are more common than carcinomas. Keywords : Review, Salivary glands tumours, Nigeria Annals of Biomedical Science Vol. 2 (2) 2003: pp. 74-81