Sarcomas of the oral and maxillofacial region: A review of 88 cases in Zimbabwe

A multicenter study of oral sarcomas in Brazil

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of oral sarcomas from geographic regions of Brazil.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted on biopsies obtained from January 2007 to December 2016 at twelve Brazilian oral and maxillofacial pathology centres. Gender, age, evolution time, clinical aspects, tumour location, tumour size at diagnosis, radiographic aspects and histopathological diagnosis were evaluated. Data were analysed using descriptive statistical methods.

RESULTS

From 176,537, a total of 200 (0.11%) oral sarcomas were reported, and the most prevalent were osteosarcomas (74 cases; 37%) and Kaposi's sarcomas (52 cases; 26%). Males were more affected than females at a mean age of 32.2 years old (range of 3-87 years). The most common symptoms were swelling¸ localised pain and bleeding at a mean evolution time of 5.14 months (range <1-156 months). The lesions were mostly observed in the mandible (90 cases; 45%), with a mean tumour size of 3.4 cm (range of 0.3-15 cm). Radiographically, the lesions presented a radiolucent aspect showing cortical bone destruction and ill-defined limits.

CONCLUSIONS

Oral sarcomas are rare lesions with more than 50 described subtypes. Osteosarcomas and Kaposi's sarcomas were the main sarcomas of the oral cavity in Brazil.

Craniomaxillofacial osteosarcoma - The role of surgical margins

BACKGROUND

Osteosarcomas (OS) in the craniomaxillofacial (CMF) region are typically diagnosed at later age than long-bone OS, but they are reported to have better 5-year survival. Curative treatment warrants wide surgical resection, which is often not possible in the CMF region. The purpose of this article is to present a nationwide series of CMF in Finland to discuss the role of surgery.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

All 21 CMF OS patients managed in Finland from 1992 to 2009 were included. The mean age was 40 years (range 15-72). Data on patient and tumor characteristics, treatment modalities, and survival were recorded. All patients had a minimum follow-up of 5 years or until death.

RESULTS

OS was evenly represented in the mandible and maxillary bones, which together constituted 76% of all sites. Surgery with curative intent was carried out in 20 patients. Clear margins were achieved in only five cases. Eight (40%) of these 20 patients died due to OS, and their average survival time was 1.3 years. Seven (35%) out of the 20 patients received radiotherapy due to close/intralesional surgical margins, and four of them did not develop recurrences during the follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that postoperative radiotherapy may alter the prognosis in CMF OS, particularly in cases with close or intralesional margins. This may increase the survival rates achieved by prompt action in performing radical surgery.

Oral Spindle Cell Sarcoma: A Rare Case Report and Review of Literature

Spindle cell lesions of the head and neck region are diverse in nature by means of clinical and biological heterogeneity. Though few lesions are found to be malignant, several others are benign or merely reactive in nature. Although these lesions are fairly common occurring in other parts of the body, they are very rare in the oral cavity, accounting for less than 1% of all tumours in the oral region. Herein, a case of 48-year-old man who presented with a polypoid lesion of the maxilla has been reported. Histopathological examination and immunohistochemistry revealed spindle cell sarcoma of the left maxillary sinus. We present this rare tumour to contribute to the better understanding and awareness of this rare malignancy where diagnosis can be very challenging.

Epidemiological Evaluation of Head and Neck Sarcomas in Iran (the Study of 105 Cases Over 13 Years)

Background:

Head and neck sarcomas are exceedingly rare and they include 4% - 10% of all sarcomas and less than 1% of all neoplasm of head and neck.

Objectives:

The aim of this study is to evaluate the epidemiological characteristics of head and neck sarcomas of patients in Isfahan, Iran.

Patients and Methods:

In this retrospective study, from the 16000 patients whose files were evaluated, the total number of 105 head and neck sarcomas were collected. They were evaluated with due attention to age, gender of the patients and the most common location of the lesion.

Results:

From the total number of 105 (0.6%) patients with sarcomas, 56 were men (53.33%) and 49 women (46.66%). The most common head and neck sarcomas among this population were Osteosarcoma (32 cases, 30.47%), Chondrosarcoma (14 cases, 13.33%), and Ewing sarcoma (11 cases, 10.47%).The most common soft tissue sarcoma was Rabdomiosarcoma. Mandible was the most common location for these lesions.

Conclusions:

In this study, the hard tissue sarcomas were more prevalent than soft tissue ones. Hence, special attention should be paid to the patients when being diagnosed.

Epidemiology of the sarcomas of the jaws in a Peruvian population

Objective: Analysis of the clinical characteristics of patients with Sarcomas of the Jaws treated in the “Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplasicas. Dr. Eduardo Caceres Graziani” from 1952-2007. Study Design: Review of 155 clinical records of patients with Sarcomas of the Jaws and record of age, gender, size, location, clinical symptoms and signs, histopathological diagnoses and type of treatment. The data obtained were analyzed by means of Student’s statistical t-test, Fisher and Friedman’s test. Results: Analysis of 155 Sarcomas of the Jaws. The average age of patients was 36.8 years old (range: 1-80 years); the female gender was the most frequent (52.9%); the average tumor size was 5.5 cm; in upper jaw 54.84% occurred and 45.16% in the lower jaw; the predominant sign was facial asymmetry (87.74%) and the predominant symptom: pain (63.23%). The most frequent diagnosis was Osteosarcoma 50.3% followed by Chondrosarcoma 18%. Surgery plus radiation therapy was the treatment type of choice with 21.94% of cases. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate the delayed diagnosis and facial asymmetry and pain appear as the most important events for the diagnosis of Sarcomas of the Jaws.

Key words: Sarcoma, jaw, jaw neoplasms, mouth neoplasms.

Endoscopic skull base surgery for sinonasal malignancy

Management of malignant neoplasms of the sinonasal tract and skull base is hampered by the relative low incidence and pathologic diversity of patient presentations. Many studies have reported successful outcomes in the endoscopic management of malignancy since 1996, and these are summarized in this article. Nonsurgical adjuvant therapies are important for locoregional control because surgery occurs in a restricted anatomic space with close margins to critical structures, and distant disease is an ongoing concern in these disorders. There remains a need for collaborative consistent multicenter reporting, and international registries have been established to assist in such efforts.

Oral cancer: clinical features

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a well-known malignancy that accounts for more than 90% of all oral cancers. In this article we will perform a brief review of its clinical characteristics and the differential diagnosis. Regarding symptoms, pain is the most frequent presentation and the tongue and the floor of the mouth have the highest occurrence. OSCC in its initial stages shows an erytholeukoplastic area without symptoms but in advanced stages there are ulcers and lumps with irregular margins which are rigid to touch. The different diagnosis should be established with other oral malignant diseases such as lymphomas, sarcomas and metastasis, which have rapid growth rates as opposed to the typical OSCC.