[Site and epidemiology of mucoepidermoid carcinoma. Analysis of 327 cases]

The salivary gland registry of the University of Hamburg (1965-1992) comprises a total of 327 mucoepidermoid carcinomas (MEC). MEC occur between the age of 5 and 96 years, most frequently in the sixth and seventh decade of life. The average age lies below 50 years (48.9 years). There is a slight predisposition of females (56.3%). Nearly 60% of all MEC care localised in the major salivary glands. The parotid gland is the most frequent localisation (53.5%) followed by the palate (17.4%). MEC are less frequent in the submandibular and sublingual glands, such as the minor salivary glands of the oropharynx and the cavity of the mouth. 53.2% of all MEC's can be classified as highly differentiated, the remaining 46.8% as poorly differentiated. MEC's of the palate are predominantly highly differentiated (72.0%). Among the variants of MEC, cystic (25.4%), clear cell (11.0%) and oncocytic (0.6%) tumours can be observed. MEC's of the clear cell type tend to originate from minor salivary glands (69.5%). MEC of childhood and adolescence (8.6%) are preferably seen in the parotid gland (46.4%) and the palate (39.3%). Up to the 20th year of life, cystic tumours and tumours of the clear cell type are comparatively more frequent.