Outcomes and Prognostic Factors of Resected Salivary Gland Malignancies: Examining a Single Institution's 12-year Experience.

BACKGROUND: Despite adjuvant radiotherapy, survival outcomes remain poor in patients with salivary gland malignancies who have multiple poor prognostic factors. This study aimed to determine which patients may benefit from treatment intensification.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients who underwent curative resection with or without adjuvant radiotherapy between 2002 and 2014 were identified and a retrospective chart review was performed. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were the main outcomes measured.

RESULTS: A total of 95 patients met the inclusion criteria. The median follow-up was 46.8 months. The median age was 60 years. Radiotherapy was given to 78 patients. Multivariate analysis revealed that male sex and perineural invasion significantly reduced overall and disease-free survival. Distant metastases comprised of 67% of recurrences and 33% were locoregional.

CONCLUSION: Adjuvant chemoradiotherapy should be considered for patients with tumors with perineural invasion, especially in males with high-risk histopathology or high-grade, late-stage disease. To our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the impact of pack-year smoking history on survival outcomes.