A 27 Year Review of Oro-facial Sarcomas at Uch Ibadan

Objectives: To determine the prevalence and demograhic characteristics of orofacial sarcomas in patients presenting with oral cancers at UCH Ibadan over a 27 year peroid. Methods: A retrospective study comprising subjects who presented with orofacial sarcoma. Cases were obtained from UCH cancer registry. Demographic features were obtained and analysed using SPSS version 11. Results: A total of 63 cases comprising 25(39.7%)males and 37(58.7%)females, age range 0.3 to 65(mean 27.5 SD 16.99)years were observed. The commonest sites were mandible(30.2%) and maxilla(25.4%). Osteosarcomas were the commonest lesions accounting for 44.4%, follwed by rhabdomyosarcomas 20.6% with chondrosacomas 15.6%, others accounted for 19.0%. Osteosarcomas occured at mean age of 30.2 yeras, with peak incidence at second to fourth decaeds( total 78.6%)and has a female predilection of 3:1. Rhabdomyosarcomas presented at the mean age 9.9 years with peak incidence in th first decade (69.2%), commoner in males. Chondrosarcomas presented at mean age of 34.5 with peak incidence in the third decade and commoner in females. Other orofacial sarcomas such as malignant fibrous histocytoma, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumour, fibrosarcoma, malignant hemangiopericytoma and myxosarcoma were less commonly seen. Conclusion: The demographic characteristics of orofacial sarcomas in this study were similar to previous studies except for some subtle differences noticed.