Oral lymphatic malformations: a 21-year retrospective study in an oral pathology service

Objective This study aimed to analyze the clinicopathological and sociodemographic features of oral lymphatic malformations (OLM) in a Brazilian oral pathology service. Study Design Between 2000 and 2021, all cases of OLM diagnosed in a single oral pathology service were selected for the study. Clinical data, such as age, sex, site of the lesion, clinical presentation, clinical diagnosis, and type of biopsy were recorded from the patients' clinical charts. Results From 7,565 lesions, 17 (0.22%) were OLM. The cases similarly affected both genders, and the mean age of the patients was 16.5 years. The tongue was the most involved site (n = 13; 76.5%). The mean size of the lesions was 17.3 mm. OLM were asymptomatic for 29.4% of the patients. Clinically, most cases appeared as a reddish, sessile nodule, with a pebbly surface. In addition, the clinical and histopathological diagnosis agreed in most cases (n = 11; 64.7%). The type of biopsy performed was excisional in 41.2% of the cases. Conclusion Thus, this study indicates that OLM are rarely diagnosed in this population. Moreover, they affect equally both sexes, especially young patients, and usually appear as nodular and asymptomatic swellings on the tongue. This study aimed to analyze the clinicopathological and sociodemographic features of oral lymphatic malformations (OLM) in a Brazilian oral pathology service. Between 2000 and 2021, all cases of OLM diagnosed in a single oral pathology service were selected for the study. Clinical data, such as age, sex, site of the lesion, clinical presentation, clinical diagnosis, and type of biopsy were recorded from the patients' clinical charts. From 7,565 lesions, 17 (0.22%) were OLM. The cases similarly affected both genders, and the mean age of the patients was 16.5 years. The tongue was the most involved site (n = 13; 76.5%). The mean size of the lesions was 17.3 mm. OLM were asymptomatic for 29.4% of the patients. Clinically, most cases appeared as a reddish, sessile nodule, with a pebbly surface. In addition, the clinical and histopathological diagnosis agreed in most cases (n = 11; 64.7%). The type of biopsy performed was excisional in 41.2% of the cases. Thus, this study indicates that OLM are rarely diagnosed in this population. Moreover, they affect equally both sexes, especially young patients, and usually appear as nodular and asymptomatic swellings on the tongue.