© The Author (2008). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved
Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma of the Head and Neck: Clinical Analysis of 43 Patients
1 Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine Keio University, Tokyo
2 Department of Otolaryngology, Shizuoka Red Cross Hospital, Shizuoka
3 Department of Pathology, School of Medicine Keio University
4 Department of Otolaryngology, National Tokyo Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan
For reprints and all correspondence: Hiroyuki Ozawa, Department of Otolaryngology, Shizuoka Red Cross Hospital, 8-2 Outemachi, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka City 420-0853, Japan. E-mail: ozakky{at}cb.mbn.or.jp
Received March 23, 2008; accepted May 15, 2008
Objective: It is well known that mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) displays a variety of biological behaviors. While the high-grade type is a highly aggressive tumor, its low-grade counterpart usually demonstrates a more benign nature and several systems have, therefore, been proposed to grade this neoplasm.
Methods: This report analyzes 43 patients suffering from head and neck MEC, who were treated in our department during the period from 1989 to 2005. The relationship between clinical and pathologic characteristics and survival rate was investigated.
Results: The 5-year overall and disease-free survival rate was 62.3 and 57.2%. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the parameters that significantly affected survival were the patient’s age (P = 0.040) and treatment method (P = 0.011).
Conclusions: The patient’s age and treatment method is the prognostic parameter in this study. Although complete surgical resection is the standard treatment for MEC, we should aggressively consider adjunctive radiotherapy in those cases that have a high risk of recurrence and poor prognosis.
Key Words: mucoepidermoid carcinoma • head and neck cancer • salivary gland • prognosis