Pleomorphic adenoma (patient information)

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief:

Overview

• This section should give a brief description of the disease, and have the name of the disease in the first sentence.
• For an example of the overview section of a patient page, click here

What are the symptoms of pleomorphic adenoma?

• Patients usually present with a history of swelling, which is gradual in onset and painless.
• The majority of patients with pleomorphic adenoma are asymptomatic.
• The symptoms mainly depend upon the size, location and the potential to undergo malignant transformation.
• When pleomorphic adenoma arises from the parotid gland patients present with:
  • Dry mouth
  • Difficulty in swallowing
  • Hoarseness
  • Dyspnea
  • Difficulty in chewing
• When the tumor arises from the lacrimal glands patients presents with:
  • Diplopia
  • Proptosis
  • Slight fullness in the temporal upper eyelid
  • Visual impairment

What causes (disease name)?

• There are no established causes for the development of pleomorphic adenoma.
• However some clonal chromosomal abnormalities with aberrations involving 8q12 and 12q15 have been described.
• Oncogenic simian virus(SV40) may play a role in the onset or progression of pleomorphic adenoma.

Who is at highest risk?

• Here you can list, or write in sentences, the most common risk factors for developing the disease.

• This section can be separated into modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors if appropriate.

• For an example of a risk factors section on a patient information page, click here.

Diagnosis

• In this section you can outline what the patient might expect to encounter as far as diagnostic studies.

• List the types of studies with a brief description, as well as blood tests, urine tests, pertinent portions of the physical examination etc.

• For an example of a diagnosis section on a patient information page, click here.

When to seek urgent medical care?

• This section should focus on the symptoms that may indicate impending life threatening situations, or significant worsening.

• For an example of a section detailing this on a patient information page, click here

Treatment options

• In this section you should outline the treatment options, including medications, lifestyle changes, and surgical interventions.

• Advise the patient to always follow the treatment plan that their doctor has provided them.

• For an example of a treatment section of a patient information page, click here.

Where to find medical care for pleomorphic adenoma?

Medical care for pleomorphic adenoma can be found here.

Prevention

• At present there are no established measures for the primary prevention of pleomorphic adenoma.
• Individuals those who are working in rubber and asbestos industries should be advised to seek an alternative job.
• If possible advise the patients to minimize unnecessary radiation exposure to head and neck region.
• Secondary preventive measures include timely screening at regular intervals with routine physical examination, radiological imaging, and blood tests.
• Once diagnosed and successfully treated, patients with pleomorphic adenoma are followed-up every 6 or 12 months.

What to expect (Outlook/Prognosis)?

• Prognosis is generally excellent for most of the patients after surgical resection.
• Depending on the extent of the tumor at the time of diagnosis, the prognosis may vary sometimes.
• Recurrence can be a problem if the tumor arises from the parotid gland.
• 2-7% of cases can go into malignant transformation if left untreated.

Possible complications

Intra-operative complications include:

• Rupture of the capsule of the parotid tumor.
• Incomplete resection of the tumor.
• Facial nerve transection especially after superficial parotidectomy.

Post-operative complications include:

• Haemorrhage or haematoma
• Infection at the site
• Trismus
• Parotid fistula
• Frey's syndrome
• Hypoesthesia of the greater auricular nerve.

Apart from the above mentioned other complications include facial disfigurement and multiple recurrences.

Sources

• Put the sources for your information here.

• The National Library of Medicine is a good source to reference for patient information pages: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/.

Things to Remember

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• Never take content directly from a source without checking copyright.
• Place your patient page in the patient information category as well as any other doctor categories the condition may fit into. To place a category onto a page, use the following code:
  • [[Category:Patient information]]
• As with all WikiDoc pages, create hyperlinks for key words and diseases. However, make sure that the hyperlinks link to other patient's information pages and not to regular WikiDoc pages.
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