A retrospective study of 30 basal cell adenomas of the salivary gland in a Brazilian population and literature review.

PURPOSE: The present study aimed to provide the clinicopathological data of Brazilian patients with basal cell adenoma (BCA).

METHODS

Records of BCA cases were retrospectively gathered from the Brazilian National Cancer Institute database between 1996 and 2006. All cases were histopathologically reviewed, and the clinicopathological data were collected from the patients' medical files. In addition, an English literature review about this tumor is also presented.

RESULTS

Of 1127 salivary gland tumors identified, 30 were BCAs (2.7%). Women were more affected than men (70.0% vs. 30.0%), and the majority (60.0%) were elderly (> 65 years old). The parotid gland was the most frequent location affected (93.3%), followed by the upper lip (3.3%) and submandibular gland (3.3%). Fine-needle aspiration was the main procedure applied to establish a preoperative diagnosis of tumor; however, the results were not always consistent. Histopathologically, the trabecular pattern was the most common type seen (50.0%) among our BCA samples. Most patients underwent superficial or partial parotidectomy. Frey's syndrome was reported only in one case during the follow-up. No recurrence was noted in the present series. The literature review revealed a total of 213 reported cases of BCA in the period investigated.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first case series of BCA reported in Brazil. As occurred in other previously reported series, the clinicopathological data of BCAs are similar and confirm that this type of tumor is rare, develops predominantly in the parotid gland, frequently affects older women, has an indolent behavior, and the affected patients have an excellent prognosis.