Schoeman, Bernardus JohannesClifford, S.D.2008-05-062008-05-062007-11Schoeman, BJ & Clifford, SD 2007, 'The incidence of malignancy in neoplasms of the submandibular salivary gland', vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 134-135. [http://www.hmpg.co.za/journaldetail.php?journalno=8]0038-2361http://hdl.handle.net/2263/5152OBJECTIVE: To test the validity of the reported high incidence (50%) of malignancy in neoplasms of the submandibular salivary gland, and to compare it with that of the parotid gland. METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of major salivary gland neoplasms in 127 patients who were treated between August 1988 and December 2004 (15½ years) at Kalafong Hospital, Pretoria. RESULTS: All but 1 of the patients were black. There were 100 benign and 27 malignant tumours. Thirty tumours were in the submandibular gland, including 3 malignant tumours, i.e. 10%. Of 97 parotid gland tumours, 24 (24.7%) were malignant. CONCLUSION: The 10% incidence of malignancy in neoplasms of the submandibular gland in our series is much lower than the 50% reported in the literature. We postulate that race (black ethnicity) is probably a factor in this low incidence.92507 bytesapplication/pdfenHealth and Medical Publishing GroupNeoplasmsSubmandibular salivary glandTumors--SurgeryCancerSubmandibular glandBlacks--Race identityArticle