Two Hundred and Forty Six Tumours and Tumour-like Conditions of the Jaw Seen in Zaria, Nigeria

Background: Tumours of the jaw may arise from the odontogenic tissues or from the non-odontogenic tissues. Many of the odontogenic tumours are considered as developmental rather than neoplastic.
Method: The present study is a retrospective analysis of 246 tumours of the jaw seen in the Pathology Department of the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria from 1987 - 1996. The tumours were classified according to World Health Organization international histological classification for odontogenic tumours.
The cases were analyzed according to histological type, age and sex.
Result: sarcoma peaked in the fourth decade while the only case of malignant ameloblastoma was in the fifth decade. Eighty one percent of the jaw lymphomas were of Burkitt's type, 53.1% of which were within the age group 5 - 9 years. The other non-Burkitt's lymphomas were distributed between 5 to 60 years.
Conclusions: Ameloblastoma is the commonest benign tumour of the jaw in Zaria, while Burkitt's lymphoma is the commonest malignant jaw tumour. The later occurs mainly in the first decade of life.