2022 Volume 115 Issue 8 Pages 679-684
We conducted a retrospective review of the data of 16 cases of minor salivary gland tumors arising from the palate that were managed at our institute over a period of 13 years. The data reviewed included the age, gender, tumor subsite, chief complaint, pathological diagnosis, treatment modality employed, and survival outcomes. The age range of the patients was 34–84 years (median, 62.5 years); 6 patients were male and the remaining 10, female. The tumor subsite was the soft palate in 8 cases, hard palate in 7 cases, and retromolar triangle in 1 case.
The chief complaint was an oral mass in 12 cases, and interestingly, 2 cases presented with a cervical mass.
The diagnosis was benign pleomorphic adenoma in 8 cases. The remaining cases had malignant tumors, including low-grade mucoepidermoid carcinomas (4 cases), adenoid cystic carcinoma (1 case), adenocarcinoma-not otherwise specified (1 case), acinic cell carcinoma (1 case), and secretary carcinoma (1 case). Fourteen of the patients were treated by transoral surgery, 1 case by surgery via a mandibular swing approach, and 1 case by partial maxillectomy. Additional surgery was performed in one case in whom the histopathological report described an insufficient resection margin, and adjuvant radiotherapy was undertaken in 2 cases that were reported as being margin-positive. The 5-year disease-specific survival rate was 100% and the recurrence-free survival rate was 86%.
We concluded that minor salivary gland tumors of the palate show a higher rate of malignancy than major salivary gland tumors, and warrant special attention, because in some cases of our series, the diagnosis was made at an advanced disease stage, in the absence of any symptoms of the primary lesion.
