Masses of the salivary gland region in children

Background: Noninflammatory masses of the salivary gland region in children are extremely rare. Therefore, very few published individual and instituti on-based experiences exist. Design: Retrospective chart review from 1990 through 1997. Setting: University-based children's hospital. Design: Patients 18 years of age or younger with a tumor in the salivary gl and region. Masses of infectious origin were excluded. Hemangiomas and lymp hangiomas were tallied for relative incidences only. Results: Three hundred twenty-four consecutive cases of salivary gland mass es were found: 192 hemangiomas (59.2%), 89 lymphangiomas (27.5%), and 43 (1 3.3%) solid masses. No significant difference was found between the age at presentation of the patients with benign solid tumors and the patients with malignant solid tumors (mean+/-SEM age, 7.2+/-0.7 years). Sixty-one percen t of the masses were found in the pare tid region; 18% were localized to th e submandibular gland region; and the remaining 21% were located in a minor salivary gland site. The most common benign perisalivary masses were pilom atrixomas (20.9%), followed by pleomorphic adenomas (11.6%). The most commo n malignant masses were mucoepidermoid carcinomas (9.3%), followed by rhabd omyosarcomas (7.0%). Treatment was individualized to the disease. Twenty-tw o patients had adequate data for follow-up analysis (mean+/-SEM follow-up, 30.0+/-8.4 months). Four patients (18.2%) experienced recurrent or residual disease and were alive with disease at last follow-up, and 100% of our pop ulation demonstrated disease-specific survival at last follow-up. Conclusions: Vascular lesions outnumber solid tumors of the salivary gland region. The most common salivary tumors were pleomorphic adenomas, followed by mucoepidermoid carcinomas. Although certain solid salivary masses may d emonstrate locally aggressive behavior, the overall prognosis is favorable.