Evaluation of the histopathology of orofacial lesions in a North-East Nigerian tertiary centre

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relative frequencies, types and site distribution of oro-facial lesions in a North-Eastern Nigerian tertiary centre. Materials and Methods: The records of the Departments of Oral-Dental Surgery and Pathology of a tertiary hospital in Nigeria were reviewed and analyzed for patients with oro-facial lesions during a seven year period (January, 2001 - December, 2007). The main outcome measures were patients' age and sex, histology assessment, tissue type and location. Results: A total of 102 (51.3%) benign lesions, 59 (29.6%) malignant lesions and 38 (19.1%) inflammatory/reactive lesions were seen. The common benign neoplasms were ameloblastoma (23.5%), fibrous dysplasia (15.7%) and pleomorphic adenoma (13.7%). The malignant lesions were mainly well differentiated squamous cell carcinomas (28.8%) and terminal duct carcinoma (11.9%). Inflammatory lesions comprised mainly of chronic osteomyelitis (15.8%) and non-specific chronic inflammatory lesions; giant cell granulomas, granulation tissues which constituted 10.5% each. There were 104 (52.3%) males and 95 (47.7%) females giving a male: female ratio of 1.1:1. The mean age of the patients was 36.1(SD΁18.9) years with a range of 1 to 85 years. Most tissue specimens were soft tissues (61.3%), while bone specimen accounted for 15.6% of all specimens analysed. There were 62 (31.2%) mandibular lesions, 24 (12.1%) palatal lesions and 15 (7.5%) parotid lesions, while maxillary antral lesions were the least, constituting only 0.5% of all lesions studied. Conclusion: The range of diagnosed lesions from our study was diverse, though our results do not represent the actual prevalence of orofacial lesions within the general population, but simply reflect the frequency of histologically diagnosed lesions at a health center in North-East Nigeria. This survey has shown that most oro-facial lesions studied were benign neoplasms and that most of these neoplasms were from the mandible.