Tuesday 3 July 2012

What is Pleomorphic Adenoma and Its Affects?

The Pleamorphic adenoma is a term used to describe a tumor which is formed in the salivary gland and is benign in nature in its nascent stages. The tumor which is mostly found in the women and children is also the most common form of adenoma present in the human body which basically includes three components namely epithelial cell component, a stromal (mesenchymal) component and a myoepithelial cell component. These three components are important to recognize the presence of pleomorphic adenoma and this is mainly called the benign mixed tumor.

The pleomorphic adenoma represents the overall 45 to 75% of all the salivary gland neoplasms and the actual incidence annually is 2 to 3.5 reported cases of the 0.1 million people. Though mostly seen in females than in males i.e. in the ratio 2:1, this type of adenoma occurs in people of all ages and usually in the age range of 43-46 years. Of all the salivary glands, the pleomorphic adenoma occurs most commonly in the parotid salivary gland with chances of 70-80% and is less seen in the other parts of the salivary gland.

Initially, it gradually grows as a painless mass which can be present in the gland the same way for years, but the symptoms appear depending on the location. When the tumor first appears in the parotid gland, seldom do the facial nerves appear weak but in the large tumors, this weakness appears to be more due to malignant changes. Normally, patients with small salivary gland tumors show different symptoms like hoarseness, dyspnea, dysphagia, epitaxis, and difficulty in chewing.

People with benign and well circumscribed tumors can easily undergo the surgical resection, however, this pleomorphic adenoma can recur again especially the ones formed in the parotid gland. And the malignant changes occur in 2-7% of the cases where they appear to recur again as deep lobe tumors especially in male gender and in older ages.

The Author is an expert Health adviser and runs a site on pleomorphic adenoma

He is also an editor for Health Encyclopedia

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4079604

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