Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
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Visual summary · Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Histopathologic Patterns of Oral and Maxillofacial Masses in Southwestern Ethiopia: A 5-Year Retrospective Study

Tewodros D. Belete

The question

What are the histopathologic patterns of oral and maxillofacial masses among patients in southwestern Ethiopia?

  • Neoplastic tumors in the oral and maxillofacial region account for 5% of all human neoplasia.
  • The study examined oral and maxillofacial biopsy cases recorded over a 5-years study period.

What was done

377biopsy cases analyzed
30median patient age, years
51.5%male patients
  • A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted on oral and maxillofacial mass biopsies from September 11, 2016 to September 10, 2021.
  • A total of 377 oral and maxillofacial mass samples fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included.
  • Data were recorded on structured checklists, entered into Epi-data version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 22.

Key findings

Finding 1 of 4
51.5%
male patient representation

Out of 377 patient records, 194 (51.5%) were male and 183 (48.5%) were female.

Finding 2 of 4
33.9%
mesenchymal tumors

Mesenchymal tumors, other than bone tumor, were the most common mass type with 128 (33.9%) cases.

Distribution of OMF mass categories
  • Mesenchymal tumors33.9%
  • Surface epithelial19.9%
  • Salivary gland14.6%
  • Benign cystic12.5%
  • Inflammatory masses10.9%
  • Odontogenic tumors5.3%
  • Bone tumors2.9%
Finding 3 of 4
57.1%
squamous cell carcinoma among malignancies

Among carcinomas and malignant tumors, squamous cell carcinoma was leading with 56 (57.1%) cases.

Finding 4 of 4
21%
located in the maxillary area

The maxillary area was the commonest site for oral and maxillofacial masses, accounting for 79 (21%) cases.

Why it matters

  • The distribution of oral and maxillofacial masses varies by patient age, sex and anatomic site.
  • Oral and maxillofacial masses are common in early adulthood, while the risk of malignant tumors increases in patients with age ≥41-years.

How to cite

Tewodros D. Belete. Histopathologic Patterns of Oral and Maxillofacial Masses in Southwestern Ethiopia: A 5-Year Retrospective Study. Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. 2022;4(1):14-21. https://doi.org/10.17140/plmoj-4-113

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