Carino Silvia, Cabrini Rómulo L
Department of Oral Pathology, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Tucumán, Argentina.
Acta Odontol Latinoam. 2007;20(1):23-31.
Minor salivary gland tumors are relatively rare and exhibit great diversity in terms of histopathology, localization, biological behavior and classification. The studies of significant case series report controversial data, mainly in terms of the proportion of benign versus malignant tumors and the relative frequency of histological types. Palate tumors are the most frequent, with an incidence of over 50%. The aim of the present study was to perform a meta-analysis to evaluate salivary gland tumors of the palate in terms of the proportion of malignant versus benign tumors, the frequency of the histological types and the data employed for statistical analysis. We analyzed a selection of international publications (1950-1999) of case series of minor salivary gland tumors of the palate, including our own series. The host institutions were classified into 3 categories: A) High Complexity Institutions (HCI), i.e. oncological reference centers and general hospitals that treat cancer patients; B) Medium Complexity Institutions (MCI); C) Low Complexity Institutions (LCI). Based on the main classifications, we joined categories and employed a simplified classification to analyze a total of 1835 cases in the literature and our own series of 111 cases (unpublish data). The results of the meta-analysis of the literature demonstrated that the data employed for statistical analysis depends on the type of host institution. The classification of institutions according to their level of complexity allowed for adequate interpretation of the previously published statistical data. Our interpretation of these studies suggests that the data on the percentage of malignant versus benign tumors and diversity of histological type must be obtained from series of low complexity institutions. LCI data are reliable whereas the HCI data are based on pre-selected cases, rendering the data unreliable.
小唾液腺肿瘤相对少见，在组织病理学、定位、生物学行为及分类方面表现出极大的多样性。对大量病例系列的研究报告的数据存在争议，主要体现在良性与恶性肿瘤的比例以及组织学类型的相对频率方面。腭部肿瘤最为常见，发病率超过50%。本研究的目的是进行一项荟萃分析，以评估腭部唾液腺肿瘤的良恶性比例、组织学类型的频率以及用于统计分析的数据。我们分析了一系列国际出版物（1950 - 1999年）中腭部小唾液腺肿瘤的病例系列，包括我们自己的病例系列。主办机构分为3类：A）高复杂性机构（HCI），即肿瘤学参考中心和治疗癌症患者的综合医院；B）中等复杂性机构（MCI）；C）低复杂性机构（LCI）。基于主要分类，我们合并类别并采用简化分类来分析文献中的1835例病例以及我们自己的111例病例系列（未发表数据）。文献荟萃分析的结果表明，用于统计分析的数据取决于主办机构的类型。根据机构的复杂程度进行分类有助于对先前发表的统计数据进行恰当解读。我们对这些研究的解读表明，关于良恶性肿瘤百分比及组织学类型多样性的数据必须从低复杂性机构的病例系列中获取。LCI的数据可靠，而HCI的数据基于预先选择的病例，导致数据不可靠。
