Patterns of care, toxicity and outcome in the treatment of salivary gland carcinomas: long-term experience from a tertiary cancer center

Abstract

Abstract Background Salivary gland carcinomas (SGC) cover a heterogeneous group of malignancies with a lack of data of high-level evidence. Methods Clinical data of 127 patients treated for SGC at a university cancer center between 2002 and 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. The association of clinicopathological characteristics, treatment modalities, adverse events, and outcome was assessed. Results Patients received surgery (n = 65), surgery followed by (chemo-)radiotherapy (n = 56), or primary (chemo-)radiotherapy (n = 6). Injury to the cranial nerves or their branches was the most frequent surgical complication affecting 40 patients (33.1%). Ten year overall and progression-free survival rates were 73.2% and 65.4%, respectively. Parotid tumor site, advanced tumor, and positive nodal stage remained independent negative prognostic factors for overall survival, loco-regional and distant tumor control in multivariate analysis. Conclusions Optimizing treatment strategies for SGC, depending on distinct clinicopathological factors, remains challenging due to the low incidence rates of the disease.