ABSTRACT
The indications for surgery for the submandibular, sublingual and minor salivary glands can be categorised into four groups: neoplasia, infection, sialolithiasis and pseudocysts. The submandibular gland gives rise to around 10% of all salivary gland tumours; half are malignant, and of the remainder that are benign, almost all are pleomorphic adenomas. Tumours of the sublingual gland are very rare, but almost all are malignant. Finally, 10% of all salivary gland tumours arise in minor salivary glands, and about 50% are malignant. Histological investigation of salivary neoplasms has been a subject of historical debate. However, the current gold standard is an ultrasound (US)-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) (with or without cytospin/cellblock) for submandibular gland neoplasms or a US-core biopsy if the initial FNA is inadequate. For the sublingual gland and the minor salivary glands, an open biopsy is the investigation of choice.
