Pattern and prevalence of ameloblastoma in a tertiary hospital – a fifteen years audit

Abstract

Background: Ameloblastoma is the commonest odontogenic tumour afflicting our populace. Furthermore, its management has been engulfed in controversy.As a tertiary institution serving as a referral center to neighboring states, no evaluation of demographics, clinical, radiological and pathological picture of ameloblastoma has been done in the last twenty years which would prove invaluable to clinicians in aiding diagnosis and prescribing an appropriate treatment protocol.
Objective: This study reviewed all cases of ameloblastoma treated in the center to ascertain its demographic, clinical, radiological and pathological characteristics.
Methods:This was a retrospective study. The relevant information on cases of ameloblastoma seen from 1998 -2013 were obtained from the archives of the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin-City, Nigeria and analyzed with regards to age, gender, clinical manifestation, radiographic presentation, anatomical distribution and histological subtype and treatment.
Results: One hundred and thirty seven cases were reviewed. There were 72 (52.5%) males and 65 (47.5%) females (M:F 1.1 : 1). Majority of cases (40.6%) occurred in the third decade of life. The commonest presenting complaint was painless jaw swelling. The mandible was mostly involved with 131 (95.6%) of the lesions, and 43.5% situated in the posterior aspect. A case of peripheral ameloblatoma was recorded. Over seventy per cent of all the cases treated were cystic, presenting as unilocular (15.4%) or multilocular (77.2%) radiolucency, while the plexiform pattern (58.3%) was the most documented histologic variant. Treatment involved mainly radical resection- maxillectomy or radical resection of the mandible
Conclusion: Ameloblastoma has remained a health menace of young adults with no sex predilection. The entity is commonest in the posterior mandible and usually presents as cystic uni- or multilocular radiolucent lesions of the mandible.

Keywords: Ameloblastoma, demographics, clinico-pathologic features, treatment