Tumors of the mandible and maxilla in children. II. A study of 14 primary and secondary malignant tumors

Primary malignant tumors of the mandible and maxilla in children occur less frequently than metastatic or secondary lesions from contiguous or distant sites. Children with primary malignant tumors were somewhat older at the time of diagnosis. In spite of the size of the primary neoplasms, pain as a symptom was surprisingly uncommon. Multiple quadrant involvement of the jaws was only present in those children with metastatic disease. All tumors regardless of whether they were primary or metastatic produced osteolytic defects roentgenographically. An adequate intra‐oral biopsy was diagnostic in most cases. Curative resections were performed in four of the five children with primary tumors and combined radiation therapy and chemotherapy was used in the patient with Ewing's tumor. The survival varied quite remarkably in the two groups of patients. Those children with primary tumors were all alive without recurrent disease for an average of 8 years, whereas there were only two short‐term survivors both with widespread disease in the group with secondary or metastatic lesions.