LOCALIZATION AND EPIDEMIOLOGY OF MUCOEPID ERMOID CARCINOMA - ANALYSISOF 327 CASES

The salivary gland registry of the University of Hamburg (1965-1992) c omprises a total of 327 mucoepidermoid carcinomas (MEC). MEC occur bet ween the age of 5 and 96 years, most frequently in the sixth and seven th decade of life. The average age lies below 50 years (48.9 years). T here is a slight predisposition of fe-males (56.3 %). Nearly 60 % of a ll 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 o f the mouth. 53.2% of all MECs can be classified as highly differentia ted, the remaining 46.8 % as poorly differentiated. MECs of the palate are predominantly highly differentiated (72.0 %). Among the variants of MEC, cystic (25.4 %), clear cell (I 1.0 %) and oncocytic (0.6 %) tu mours can be observed. MECs of the clear cell type tend to originate f rom minor salivary glands (69.5 %). MEC of childhood and adolescence ( 8.6 %) are preferably seen in the parotid gland (46.4 %) and the palat e (39.3 %). Up to the 20th year of life, cystic tumours and tumours of the clear cell type are comparatively more frequent.