Oral and Maxillo-facial soft tissue sarcomas in an Africa population

Background : Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are not common and account for less than 1% of all malignancies in the maxillofacial region. These tumours are under reported in Africa South of the Sahara in current literature. This report is a review of our experience with STS over a 23 year period at a busy Tertiary Oral care centre in Kaduna, Northern Nigeria. Methods : Patients presenting to the Maxillofacial Unit, of the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Kaduna, with oral and maxillofacial malignancies between the years 1977 and 1999 were retrospectively studied. Soft tissue sarcomas were studied. Demographic features, clinical presentation, treatment options , outcome and histologic variants were studied. Results : There were 38( median 28 years). There were more adults (79%) than children (21%). There were eleven histologic types but the more frequent ones were rhabdomyosarcoma (10/38,(), fibrosarcoma (10/38 (26%), liposarcoma ( 5/38 (13%) and malignant fibrous histiocytoma (5/38(13%) . Site of primary occurrence was mainly the mandible (32%), palate (21%) and cheek (18%). Surgery was the mainstay of treatment 28/38 (74%) while 10/38(26%) patients had no active treatment. Conclusion : Most patients present late with difficult deforming tumours. We can blame patients knowledge, Socio-economic