Study of salivary gland neoplasms in pediatric age group in a tertiary care centre for head and neck diseases

Introduction: Salivary gland tumors are very rare in children and adolescents. We reported here 11 cases of paediatric salivary gland tumors in a study conducted from July 2015 to June 2017 at Government ENT Hospital, Koti, Hyderabad, Telangana, a tertiary care center. Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze clinical and histopathological features of salivary gland tumours in paediatric age group (children and adolescents). Materials and methods: A total of 11 cases of salivary gland tumors encountered in paediatric age group (0-18 years) were studied and analyzed for age, gender, site predilection and for histopathological types. Results: Parotid and submandibular glands were the main site of tumor occurrence (8/11 in parotid gland, 2/11 in submandibular gland and 1/11 arising in minor salivary glands of hard palate). 4 cases were benign tumors (pleomorphic adenoma) and 7 were malignant tumors (constituted by 6 cases of low grade mucoepidermoid carcinomas and a single case of adenoid cystic carcinoma). Majority of the cases were above 10 years of age with an average of 12.3 years with female preponderence. Conclusion: Present study showed that salivary gland tumors in paediatric age group are very rare and with majority of cases being Mucoepidermoid carcinoma with female preponderance seen in parotid gland. Other glands involved were submandibular salivary glands and minor salivary glands of hard palate. Pleomorphic adenoma was the most common benign tumor and Mucoepidermoid carcinoma was the most common malignant tumor, all of low grade type. One case of adenoid cystic carcinoma was noted in a 15 year old female.