Tongue lesions.

Background: Some authors have shown that tongue lesions represent an important segment of oral mucosal lesions group, with prevalence varying among epidemiologic studies from different countries.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence of tongue lesions in a Brazilian population.

Methods: A collaborative study was conducted using data from 5 anatomic pathology services in Brazil. After data collection, these tongue lesions were separated in 4 groups: G1/malignant tumors, G2/benign tumors, G3/reactive lesions, and G4/other lesions.

Results: Analysis of 6231 specimens for which oral biopsy was performed showed 760 cases (12.2%) diagnosed in the tongue. From this total, 306 cases (40.3%) occurred in females, and 454 (59.7%) occurred in males. Ages ranged from 3 to 93 years, with a global average of 45.3 years. The largest numbers of cases were represented by reactive lesions (44.6%), followed by benign tumors (27.9%), malignant tumors (18.6%), and other lesions (8.9%).

Conclusions: Tongue diseases were more common in male patients, and most of them were reactive lesions or benign neoplasms, but 18.6% were malignant neoplasms. The occurrence of malignant neoplasm increased notably with age.