A 30-Year Comparison of Clinical and Histopathological Diagnoses in Salivary Gland Lesions, Odontogenic Cysts and Tumors in Mashhad Dental School-Iran

Many lesions of the oral cavity have similar clinical features. Therefore, a confirmatory histopathological examination for final diagnosis and complete management of the lesions is necessary. The aim of this study was to evaluate the agreement between clinical and histopathological diagnosis in three groups of oral lesions during 30-years (1976-2006) in Mashhad Dental School.

In this retrospective study clinical and histopathological information from three groups of lesions (450 salivary gland lesions, 1058 odontogenic cysts and 195 odontogenic tumors) over a 30-year period was compared. Clinical data included age, gender, location of lesion and clinical diagnosis. Data were analyzed through SPSS 15 Software using t, and Fisher's Exact tests.

The clinical and histopathological diagnoses were compared by using the percentage of agreement and the percentage of discrepancy. Total agreement between clinical and histopathological diagnoses was 69.3%, 65.1% and 48.7% for odontogenic cysts, salivary gland lesions and odontogenic tumors respectively. Residual cyst, mucocele and odontoma showed the highest percentage of agreement in each of the studied groups.

It is concluded that in some cases, proper strategies and more attention to clinical feature of the lesion is necessary to minimize the discrepancy. However, lesions with nonspecific clinical presentation need oral pathology diagnostic service.