Comparative Longitudinal Analysis of Malignant Transformation in Pleomorphic Adenoma and Recurrent Pleomorphic Adenoma

Background: Recurrence in pleomorphic adenoma (PA) has been debated as a risk factor for malignant transformation (MT). In this study, we investigated whether recurrence is a risk factor for MT, by longitudinally analyzing cases with recurrent PA (RPA), and carcinomas from PA (CXPA) or RPA (CXRPA). Methods: The study population included 24 CXPA, 24 RPA, 6 CXRPA, and 386 PA cases (study period 2010–2018). Time and event data were collected from the medical documents to identify the time–event sequences. Results: The time interval to MT in CXRPA was significant longer than that of benign recurrence (median 342.0 vs. 109.5 months). In CXRPA, the recurrence intervals were not shorter than those in RPA according to recurrence frequency. Crudely, the MT rate was 5.9% among primary cases and 20.0% among recurrent cases. However, the time-adjusted MT rates increased up to 11.4% (incubation time > 60 months) and 20.0% (>120 months) in primary cases, which were not different from recurrent cases. Conclusion: In these longitudinal analyses, we did not find any clinical evidence that recurrence facilitates MT in the background of PA. Instead, a long incubation time seems to be a key factor for MT of underlying RPA.