Salivary gland neoplasms: a 21year review of cases seen at University College Hospital, Ibadan.

The present study updates the experience of salivary gland tumours in Ibadan. All cases of benign and malignant salivary gland neoplasms histologically diagnosed between 1975 and 1995 in the Oral Pathology Department and Cancer Registry of the University College Hospital, Ibadan were reviewed. Salivary gland neoplasms accounted for 3.5% of head and neck neoplasms, the majority (46.5%) occurring in the parotid, followed by the submandibular (18.1%) and palatal glands (10.7%). The ratio of benign to malignant neoplasms was 1.1 to 1. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma and adenoid cystic carcinoma were the most common malignant neoplasms. There was a predilection of adenoid cystic carcinoma for the submandibular gland.