Salivary gland tumors in Jordan: a retrospective study of 221 patients

To evaluate the types and clinical outcome of salivary gland tumors in Jordan.

Hospital records of 221 patients (85 women and 136 men) with salivary gland tumors, diagnosed from January 1988 to December 1997 were reviewed. The patients were analyzed according to sex, age, histopathological type and site of the tumor. Survival curves for patients with malignant tumors were constructed using Kaplan-Meier's method.

Of the total 221 salivary gland tumors, 155 (70.2%) were parotid tumors, 42 (19%) minor salivary gland tumors, 23 (10.4%) submandibular gland tumors, and a single (0.4%) sublingual gland tumor. Most of the tumors (151, or 68.4%) were classified as benign and 70 (31.6%) were malignant. Men to women ratio was 1.6:1, and the age of the patients ranged from 2 to 81 years. The overall 5 and 10 year-survival rates for the 70 malignant tumors were 67% and 53%, respectively, for all tumor stages. Mucoepidermoid carcinoma had the best, and squamous cell carcinoma the worst 10-year survival rate. Patients treated with surgery and subsequent radiation therapy had better survival rates than those treated with surgery or radiation therapy alone.

The principal site for salivary gland tumors in Jordan population was the parotid, and the pleo- morphic adenoma the most common pathological finding. Tumor characteristics and survival data for the Jordanian population are comparable to those from western countries.