Tongue lesions.

BACKGROUND

Some authors have shown that tongue lesions represent an important segment of oral mucosal lesions group, with prevalence varying among epidemiologic studies from different countries.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of tongue lesions in a Brazilian population.

METHODS

A collaborative study was conducted using data from 5 anatomic pathology services in Brazil. After data collection, these tongue lesions were separated in 4 groups: G1/malignant tumors, G2/benign tumors, G3/reactive lesions, and G4/other lesions.

RESULTS

Analysis of 6231 specimens for which oral biopsy was performed showed 760 cases (12.2%) diagnosed in the tongue. From this total, 306 cases (40.3%) occurred in females, and 454 (59.7%) occurred in males. Ages ranged from 3 to 93 years, with a global average of 45.3 years. The largest numbers of cases were represented by reactive lesions (44.6%), followed by benign tumors (27.9%), malignant tumors (18.6%), and other lesions (8.9%).

CONCLUSIONS

Tongue diseases were more common in male patients, and most of them were reactive lesions or benign neoplasms, but 18.6% were malignant neoplasms. The occurrence of malignant neoplasm increased notably with age.