HISTOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY OF SALIVARY GLAND TUMOURS

BACKGROUND Salivary gland tumours are rare neoplasms. It account for 2-6.5% of all neoplasms of head and neck. They do elicit considerable medical interest because of their multifaceted clinical presentation, varied histological appearance and associated difficulties in predicting their prognosis. Classification of salivary gland tumours is essentially based on morphology and histologic aspects of these tumours. OBJECTIVE To study histopathological types of salivary gland tumours and to classify the tumours according to WHO classification because the classification of salivary gland tumours is absolutely necessary for therapeutic and for prognostic implication. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixty salivary gland tumours were studied from May 2006 to May 2011. Ten different salivary gland tumours were studied during this study period in MGMC&RI. In this study, 58 out of 60 were epithelial tumours and 2 were non-epithelial tumours of salivary gland origin. Ten histological types of epithelial and non-epithelial tumours were obtained in this study. RESULTS Out of 60 cases, 58 were epithelial tumours and two were non-epithelial tumours. Overall, 63.3% of cases in the study were female and 36.7% were male. Out of 60 cases, 34 were benign, 26 were malignant. 73.3% of tumours arise from major salivary gland and 26.6% were found in minor salivary gland. Eleven out of 26 cases of malignant tumours were found in major glands, 15 out of 26 cases were found in minor salivary gland. Out of 60 tumours, 32 arises from parotid, 12 cases from submandibular gland and remaining were from minor salivary gland. Pleomorphic adenoma was the commonest benign tumour forming 28 cases out of 60. Adenoid cystic carcinoma was the commonest malignant tumour forming 12 cases out of 60 cases. Each one cases of myoepithelioma, schwannoma, adenocarcinoma NOS, polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinoma, undifferentiated carcinoma and lymphoma were studied. CONCLUSION Salivary gland tumours exhibit broad histopathological spectrum. Overlapping features are seen among different salivary gland tumours. Correlation of single and dual differentiation with morphological and immunohistochemistry helps in confirmation of final diagnosis.