Clinical and pathological characterization of pleomorphic adenoma of salivary glands

Abstract

Introduction: salivary glands are constituted by three pairs of major glands and a group of 450 to 700 minor glands located in the oral mucosa. Their fundamental function is to produce and secrete saliva. Objective: to describe the clinical and pathological characteristics of pleomorphic adenoma of salivary glands. Methods: a search for information in the databases of articles and information was carried out in English and Spanish languages available in Pubmed/MedLine, SciELO, Scopus databases. Twenty-seven bibliographic references were chosen. Development: tumors of the salivary glands are relatively infrequent and usually manifested by swelling in one of the major pair salivary glands or in one of the minor glands of the mouth. Most salivary gland neoplasms appear in the major glands, with approximately 90 % appearing in the parotid gland. The most common benign tumor of the salivary glands is pleomorphic adenoma. Most parotid salivary gland tumors are benign, about half of submandibular and minor salivary gland tumors are malignant. Conclusions: pleomorphic adenoma of salivary glands is a neoplasm that, according to its biological behavior, is benign, presenting mostly as a painless mass or swelling in the salivary gland. In the histological study, they show mixed epithelial and mesenchymal differentiation, with epithelial nests dispersed in a variable matrix with myxoid, hyaline, chondroid or bone differentiation.

Keywords

• adenoma pleomórfico
• glándulas salivales
• adenoma
• boca