February 17, 2016
1 min read
Save

Tumor site, surgery associated with survival in minor salivary gland carcinoma

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Primary tumor site, patient age and receipt of surgery appeared to influence cause-specific survival among patients with minor salivary gland carcinoma, according to results of a retrospective population-based study.

Prior attempts to identify prognostic factors for carcinoma of the minor salivary gland had been based on small case series and single-institution studies. Consequently, limited data exist to help oncologists counsel patients about their prognosis, according to study background.

H. Michael Baddour Jr., MD, a fourth-year otolaryngology resident at Emory University School of Medicine, and colleagues analyzed SEER data from January 1988 through December 2009 to analyze 5- and 10-year cause specific survival among patients with minor salivary gland carcinoma.

The analysis included 5,334 patients with a variety of histologic subtypes and tumor subsites. Most study participants had primary tumors in the oral cavity (58.7%) and pharynx (21.2%). The most common subtypes included mucoepidermoid carcinoma (29.4%), adenocarcinoma (24.6%) and adenoid cystic carcinoma (23%).

Patients with malignant neoplasms in the larynx (HR for death = 2.42; 95% CI, 1.67-3.5) and the nasal cavity and/or paranasal sinus (HR = 1.73; 95% CI, 1.29-2.32) demonstrated significantly worse 5-year cause-specific survival. Age older than 75 years also appeared associated with significantly worse 5-year cause-specific survival (HR = 2.88; 95% CI, 2.05-4.06).

Local tumor destruction (HR = 0.44; 95% CI, 0.3-0.64), partial surgery (HR = 0.33; 95% CI, 0.23-0.47) and total surgery (HR = 0.55; 95% CI, 0.41-0.74) all served as significant positive predictive factors compared with no surgery.

Baddour and colleagues observed no differences in 5-year cause-specific survival based on sex, diagnosis year, race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status. Ten-year adjusted HRs appeared similar to 5-year patterns, researchers wrote. – by Ryan McDonald

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.