Pathology Consultation Carcinomas of the Submandibular and Sublingual Glands

Abstract

The ratio of benign to malignant tumors changes markedly from parotid to submandibular to sublingual glands. Neoplasms of the submandibular gland are nearly equally distributed between benign and malignant histologic types. Compared to their counterparts in the parotid gland, malignancies in the submandibular gland are more often of a higher histologic grade, more biologically aggressive, metastasize more often, and are more lethal. In the sublingual glands, approximately 80% of the epithelial tumors are malignant.