TUMORS OF THE PALATE (BENIGN AND MALIGNANT)

Abstract

The palate, hard and soft, gives rise to a varied group of tumors—epidermoid carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and benign mixed tumors. Melanoma, lymphosarcoma and myosarcoma occur only rarely in this structure. In most parts of the oral cavity malignant can be reasonably separated from benign tumors. Such definite separation is impossible in the palate, where there is a gradual transition in the cellularity of benign into cancer. The title of this report is therefore Tumors [rather than Cancer] of the Palate. The present report is based on a series of all patients with neoplasms of the hard and soft palates admitted to the Memorial Hospital for the Treatment of Cancer and Allied Diseases from 1929 to 1936, inclusive. Of those with malignant tumors, none have been excluded because of the advanced stage of the disease. DEFINITION The term tumors of the palate should be limited to growths arising on