Incidence and profile of benign epithelial tumors of salivary glands from a single center in Northeast of Brazil

BACKGROUND: Benign tumors of the salivary glands are a group of lesions with varied histopathological and clinical spectrum. The aim was to determine the incidence and clinicopathological characteristics of benign salivary gland neoplasms diagnosed between 2007 and 2016 in a single center located in northeastern Brazil. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Records regarding sex, age, anatomical location, histopathological subtype and treatment were retrieved, and data were analyzed using the Stata/IC software (version 12.0). RESULTS: There were above 7,100 cases of neoplasms in the head and neck region, of which 403 corresponded to salivary gland neoplasms. Of these, 238 (59%) were benign, being pleomorphic adenoma (PA) the most frequent neoplasm (n=178; 74.8%), followed by Warthin's tumor (WT) (n=23; 9.7%). Overall, most cases occurred in females (n=136; 57.1%) and age ranged from 11 to 83 years. The parotid gland (n=188; 79%) was the most common anatomical site, and all patients were treated by surgical excision. Of the cases diagnosed as PA, malignant transformation to carcinoma ex-pleomorphic adenoma (CAEXPA) occurred in 7 (3.9%) cases. CONCLUSIONS: The present study confirmed the clinical and demographic profile of benign salivary gland neoplasms, which contributes to the continuous knowledge of current data about these lesions. Key words:Salivary gland, benign neoplasms, epidemiology.