Salivary gland tumours: a meta-analysisof pooled data from South Africa andcomparison with international reports

Abstract

Background: There are few descriptive studies on salivary gland tumours from South Africa. This is a meta-analysis ofall but one peer-reviewed published data from South Africa on salivary gland tumours, including data from TygerbergHospital, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.Methods: The authors searched PubMed, Google Scholar, and Stellenbosch library service using Boolean operators andthe following words “salivary”, “gland”, “tumours”, “cancer”, “parotid”, “submandibular”, and “minor salivary”. Casereports were excluded.Results: We identified ten articles, of which nine were included totalling 1 745 salivary gland tumours. Meta-analysisshowed that 68.49% of all salivary gland tumours are benign and 31.51% malignant. Fifty-eight point four nine per cent(58.49%) occurred in the parotid gland, 19.95% in the submandibular gland and 21.56% in minor salivary glands. Inparotid gland tumours (n = 583) 71.18% were benign, for submandibular glands (n = 125) 79.2% were benign, and minorsalivary glands (n = 1 037) 62.2% were benign. Pleomorphic adenomas remain the most common tumour comprising50.43% of parotid, 75.20% of submandibular, and 48.31% of minor salivary gland tumours.Conclusion: This study represents a meta-analysis of all salivary gland tumours from South Africa. It challenges classicteaching dictums and emphasises the importance of loco-regional data contributing to evidence-based medicine.